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A History of Columbus 
Mississippi 

During the i 9TH Century 



■J" >.:■ 



By Dr. W. L. Lipscomb 



Published by the S. D, Lee Chapter of the 
Daughters of the Confederacy 



MRS. GEORGIA P. YOUNG 

Historian of the Stephen D. Lee Chapter, of 

Columbus, Mississippi 

EDITOR 



1909 



PRESS OF DISPATCH PRINTINGCO. 

Birmingrham. Ala. 









The illustrations in this book have been selected mostly with the 
view of preserving the personality of those men who as early settlers 
made possible the Columbus of today, the Columbus of which we are 
so justly proud. Their industry, their integrity, their regard for the 
refining processes of education and religion left an impress of incal- 
culable value, a priceless heritage it is that can not be too carefully 
guarded. These men and others like them may well be held up to 
their descendants as men as knightly as those who rode with King 
Arthur, who ever upheld that which is good and both by precept and 
example put down all that was ignoble. Today owes tribute to that 
yestertime that in some measure is paid by these illustrations. — Editor 



^ 



,#^ 




WILLIAM LOWNDES LIPSCOMB. M.lJ. 

(1823-1908.) 



PREFACE. 



SEATED at the fireside or on the veranda as the shadows of a 
summers day gathered about him, Dr. Lipscomb dictated to his 
daughter, Laura, this story of the town he loved so well. Though 
bordering on fourscore years and with his eyes forever shut to earthly 
light, his memory was undimmed. Turning its pages he saw again 
the forms and faces, the scenes and events of the long ago. Before 
him flowed the placid Tombigbee with its rocky bluffs and wood- 
fringed sides; the winding paths that led up to the ferry to the strag- 
gling village of rude log cabins, and the environing forest where deer 
founded and the red n\an pitched his wigwam. He saw again the 
sturdy men and gracious women who in the prime of life and bouyant 
with expectation came to cast their lots with the city that was to be. 

Vividly he recalled the time when the log cabins gave place to 
the mansion, the foot-paths to well ordered streets and the rough shel- 
ter to well appointed churches. 

With a soldier's pride he tells of the part Columbus took in the 
Civil War and when all was over how the little town came from under 
the pall of despair and heroically struggled against the adverse circum- 
stances of those cruel days of reconstruction. With paternal interest 
he watched the sure and steady strides that placed her in the front rank 
of the State's cities and he rejoiced in all that made for her ad- 
vancement. Dr. Lipscomb was among the last of those who had 
seen the town grow from infancy to lovely womanhood and it was 
fitting that he should tell the story as he knew it. 

But not alone on his own recollections did he depend, but with 
painstaking assidity he had researches made in old documents, court 
house records, business ledgers and files of newspapers, also consulting 
with persons nearest his own age as to the correctness of his statements. 

The Stephen D. Lee Chapter of the United Daughters of the 
Confederacy feel they are conferring a favor on the present and future 
generations in publishing this authentic and trustworthy "History of 
Columbus, Mississippi." — Editor. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

Preface 3 

Biographical Sketch of W. L. Lipscomb 7 

Chapter I.. Site of Cohimbus, Miss 13 

Chapter II — Location and Early Surroundings 17 

Chapter III — Sixteenth Section Bill 24 

Chapter IV — Earliest Inhabitants 29 

Chapter V — 1820-1830, Growth and Development 37 

Chapter VI — Last Year of Old Monroe — Farewell to the Log 

Cabin 45 

Chapter VII — Facts and Incidents 50 

Chapter VIII — Lowndes County Organized 57 

Chapter IX — Removal of the Indians; The Pytchliiis 62 

Chapter X — Early Settlers .... 69 

Chapter XI — Franklin Academy; Schools and Colleges 75 

Chapter XII — Churches and Benevolent Societies 93 

Chapter XIII— Columbus During the Civil War 122 

Chapter XIV — Physicians, Lawyers, Banks 149 

Supplement — Rosters of Companies that served during the War. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

William Lowndes Lipscomb, M. D. Frontispiece 

Residence of James W. Lipscomb, M. D 8 

Residence of B. A. Weaver 32 

Benjamin Franklin Beckwith 36 

Residence of James H. Kinnebrew 44 

Hon. Jacob McGavock Dickinson 48 

Col. Wright E. Gibbs 50 

Residence of William Baldwin, Esq 54 

Dr. Sidney S. Franklin 58 

General R. T. Brownrigg 62 

Col. George H. Young 64 

"Waverley." Home of George H. Young 72 

Franklin Academy 74 

Residence of Dr. R. R. Stockard 78 

Industrial Institute and College 80 

Music Hall of the Industrial Institute and College 88 

First Methodist Church . 92 

St. Paul's Episcopal Church 92 

Col. Thomas C. Billups 96 

James Sykes 98 

First Presbyterian Church 102 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church 104 

Roman Catholic Church 112 

Mrs. Ann Campbell Franklin -. 114 

Mai. Thomas Blewett 118 

First Baptist Church 120 

Residence of Gen. Stephen D. Lee 122 

City Hall 126 

Miss Matt Moreton 128 

Opera House 134 

Gen. Stephen Dill Lee 138 

John Brownrigg - 148 

James T. Harrison, Esq 148 

First State Bank 152 

Charles Baskerville, Ph. D., F. C. S 160 



Dr. William Lowndes Lipscomb 

1828-1Q08 

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

An understanding of his life and character will enable 
the reader of this History of Columbus in the 19th Century 
to appreciate more readily Dr. Lipscomb's tender, strong 
love for his town and county and his unflagging zeal in the 
promotion of their welfare. It will explain, too, how affec- 
tionately in old age he looked back on the past and minutely 
called up the details in the lives of his friends and fellow- 
citizens and in the growth of the town and county. 

That the History may be the better interpreted, as well 
as to give due honor to one of the most useful and most gifted 
of its citizens in the nineteenth century, is the purpose of 
this introductory biographical sketch. 

PIONEER CITIZEN HAS PASSED AWAY. 

In the death of Dr. W. L. Lipscomb, which occurred at the home 
of his son, Dr. J. W. Lipscomb, on Main Street, at an early hour last 
Friday morning. May 22nd, Columbus has lost one of her oldest and 
noblest citizens, a man whose long life was a life of usefulness and one 
whose gentle nature and splendid mind cheered and inspired all with 
whom he came in contact. He was one of those noble men in whom 
honesty, purity, and reverence for all things good are innate, and his 
earthly journey of four score years was devoted to faithful and efficient 
work for God and his fellow men. He had practically all his life been 
an earnest and consistent Christian, and his profession, that of a phy- 
sician, afforded splendid opportunities for a work which he held dear, 
that of alleviating the pain and suffering of his fellow creatures. 

Dr. Lipscomb was born in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., in LS28, but 
came to Columbus with his parents when a lad of four years, and prac- 
tically all of his life had been spent here. He chose medicine as a 
profession, and at the outbreak of the War between the States in 1801 
went to the front as a surgeon. He was taken a prisoner at Pensacola, 
but was exchanged, and throughout the entire conflict devoted his 
energies to caring for sick and wounded soldiers. He was attached 
to several different surgical staff's, much of his time having been spent 
in attendance upon the disabled soldiers who were brought to the 
Confederate hospital which was maintained in this city. 

In 1854 Dr. Lipscomb was married to Miss Taleulah Harris, daught- 
er of the late Col. Geo. H. Harris. Several children blessed the union 
and besides his widow four sons and three daughters are left to mourn 
the loss of the departed husband and father. Two of his sons reside 
in Columbus, Prof. Dabney Lipscomb, who is professor of economics 
at the Industrial Institute and College, and Dr. J. W. Lipscomb, a 
prominent local physician. The two remaining sons, Rev. Thomas 
Lipscomb and Rev. Wadsworth Lipscomb, are both Methodist min- 
isters, the former being stationed at Hattiesburg and the latter at 
Friar's Point. The three daughters are Mrs. Ernest Beard, of this 
City, Mrs. Mary Hargrove, of Kansas City, Mo., and Mrs. B. W. 
Waters, who is engaged in missionary work in Japan. 



8 

Dr. Lipscomb was one of the oldest members of the First Methodist 
church, his name having appeared on the original membership roll. 
Of the first one thousand members enrolled, his name was one of the 
two which remained, and now that he is dead there is but one living 
member whose name appears among the first one thousand enrolled. 
Dr. Lipscomb has filled almost every office in the church, and for quite 
a long period of time was superintendent of the Sunday school. During 
recent years, however, his health has been so feeble that he was forced 
to remain at home practically all of the time, and was therefore re- 
luctantly compelled to give up his religious work, as well as his labors 
in other fields. 

The funeral occurred at the First Methodist church at ten o'clock 
Saturday morning, having been conducted by the pastor, Rev. J. W. 
Shoaff, D. D., who was assisted by Rev. S. L. Pope, pastor of the Second 
Methodist church. The obsequies were attended by a large concourse 
of sorrowing relatives and friends, and the floral offerings were both 
numerous and beautiful. The interment was at Friendship Cemetery. 
Messrs. L. A. Vaughan, P. W. Maer, C. F. Sherrod, J. P. Mayo, B. D. 
Ervin and O. P. Brown were the active pall-bearers, while Dr. R. S. 
Curry, Col. W. C. Richards, Dr. R. L. Sykes, Col. G. W. Abert, Gen. 
E. T. Sykes, Messrs. R. T. Williams, W. C. Beard and T. B. Franklin 
officiated as honorary pall-bearers. — Columbus Dispatch, May 24, 1908. 

The death of Dr. William Lowndes Lipscomb which occurred 
at the residence of his son, Dr. J. W. Lipscomb on last Friday morning 
at five o'clock. May 22d, was felt by every man, woman and child 
in Columbus, where he was known and loved by all. He was a son 
of Dr. Dabney Lipscomb, who was for two terms President of Missis- 
sippi State Senate, and who practiced medicine in Columbus from 
1832 to 1850. He was born January 3, 1828, in Tuscalooss County, 
Ala. He moved with his parents to Columbus in 1832, then a village 
of about 500 people. Educated at the Franklin Academy and in 
private schools of the town, till he went to Lagrange College near Tus- 
cumbia, Ala., of which Rev. Robert Paine, afterwards Bishop Paine, 
was President. He next read medicine in his father's office, and then 
went to the medical department of the University of New Orleans, 
now Tulane University, from which he graduated in 1850 with class- 
mates such as Drs. Beard, Choppin, Cracour, and others since famous 
in New Orleans. 

On the death of his father in 1850 he settled in Columbus to prac- 
tice medicine, to care for his mother, and younger brothers and sisters. 
In December, 1854, he was married to Miss Tallulah Harris, daughter 
of Col. Geo. H. liarris. 

When the trouble between the States came up he enlisted as a 
private but was soon commissioned by President Davis as assistant 
surgeon, and ordered to Pensacola, Fla. There he was captured and 
imprisoned. While in prison he was cheered by visits from his devoted 
Christian wife. After he was released he served as surgeon in charge 
of hospitals in New Orleans and Columbus, Miss., and as medical 
director of the army under Gen. S. D. Lee. After the close of the 
war he helped to establish and edit The Columbus Democrat, and in 
its columns opposed vigorously both the Alcorn and Dent tickets. For 
about forty years he practiced medicine in Columbus — prominent in 
the State Medical Association — always deeply interested in the welfare 
of the town politically, industrially, religiously, socially and educa- 
tionally. He was active in every good work and movement. In his 
large practice he never failed to administer to rich and poor alike, in 
spiritual advice as well as medical skill. For thirty years or more he 
was Superintendent of the First M. E. Sunday School. He was County 
Superintendent of Education for ten years. He was a devoted friend 



of children. His address on "The Jack Knife" in 1873 to the pupils 
of Franklin Academy is remembered even yet by many who heard it 
as one of the best deliveries of Dr. Lipscomb, well known as one of 
the most original and effective speakers of the country. 

For the past fifteen or twenty years partial blindness impaired 
his usefulness; this ended in total blindness about two years ago. 
Granted to him all of this, he bore with astonishing cheerfulness 
and resignation and to the end manifested unflagging interest in all that 
pertains to the welfare of the town he had lived in seventy-six years 
and loved so ardently. Thus it seems that as a people we are better and 
stronger for his life. He was really even eager to go hence and his 
family and friends could not wish to keep him longer when every hour 
meant but that much more of suffering to him. "There is no death — 
Death is the great fulfillment of life." To this heritage he has gone. 
In his last hours his devoted wife and all his children, except two, 
who are across the ocean, administered unto him. 

The writer knew Dr. Lipscomb only to love him and feel a deep 
personal grief that he is forced to give up so good, pure and warm- 
hearted a friend. 

The funeral services were conducted Saturday morning at 11 

o'clock from the First Methodist Church by Dr. Shoaff and his remains 

were lovingly and tenderly laid to rest in Friendship Cemetery by his 

old comrades, accompanied by a large concourse of devoted friends. 

— Cohimbu'^ Commercial, May 24, 1908. 

The foregoing tributes to Dr. W. L. Lipscomb give fairly 
well the leading facts of his life and the esteem in which he 
was held by those who knew him best in the place which was 
his home for nearly four-score years. 

It may not be amiss to add a brief sketch of the Lips- 
comb family — a distinctively Southern one — with its several 
Virginia, South Carolina, and Tennessee branches, from which 
a large connection has descended extending through the 
Gulf States, and westward through Missouri to Colorado and 
even to California. 

Of Dr. Lipscomb's most notable characteristics and of the 
chief services he rendered his generation during his long and 
eminently useful life, it may also be worth the while to speak 
somewhat more fully in this introductory biographical sketch. 

ANCESTRY. 

The Lipscombs of America come from the family or 
families to which the Lipscombs of southwest England — a 
numerous connection — trace their origin. Throughout that 
section are many families with names of kindred derivation, 
such as the Whitcombs, Dunscombs, Welcombs, Holcombs 
and others, often adding a final e to the name. Evidently 
there is a geographic significance attached to these family 



10 

names, designating apparently people who lived on the 
combs, or ridges, that form a conspicuous feature of English 
landscapes in the southwestern counties. Conan Doyle 
in his "White Company" represents Sir Arthur Lipscomb as 
a valiant follower of the Black Prince in France and Spain. 
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, representatives 
of the Lipscomb families in England rose to prominence as 
bishops in the church, scholars in the universities, and surgeons 
in army or navy, and one or two became archaeologists and 
antiquarians of more than local distinction. 

In the seventeenth century, very probably, with one of 
the Lords Baltimore, the ancestor of the Lipscombs in America 
crossed the ocean. Tradition has it that he had been con- 
nected with the ill-fated Monmouth expedition and for safety 
sought refuge in America. What he did and exactly where 
he lived in Maryland or Virginia is not definitely known. 
This refugee ancestor, Joel by name, left three sons, John, 
Thomas and William. Thomas, from whom Dr. W. L. Lips- 
comb is descended lived before the Revolution in Spott- 
sylvania County, Virginia, and had four sons and two daugh- 
ters. His two oldest sons, Joel and Nathan, it seems with 
their Uncle William, moved to South Carolina before the war 
with England; for the records show that they there parti- 
cipated in the partisan warfare that signalized the patriots 
of that State. John, the third son, married and remained in 
Virginia, some of his descendants still living there and others 
living now in Kentucky and further west. David and Wil- 
liam, fourth and fifth sons of Thomas Lipscomb, moved to 
Tennessee and became men of distinction and influence. 
From them the large Tennessee branch of the family trace 
their lineage. • 

Joel Lipscomb, grand-father of W. L. Lipscomb, who had 
moved from Virginia to South Carolina, before the Revolution, 
after the formation of the Mississippi Territory, again moved 
with his growing family to what is now Greene County, Ala. 
There he raised a large family and died in 1838 at a ripe old 
age. His second son, Abner Smith Lipscomb was for years 
Chief Justice of Alabama, which position he resigned and 
moving to Texas helped to bring that State into the Union 



11 

and died there, one of the Supreme Judges of the State, in 
1857. 

Of Dr. Dabney Lipscomb, fourth son of Joel Lipscomb, 
who moved to Columbus, Mississippi, in 1832, a sketch will 
be found in the Chapter XIV of the History of Columbus. 
His son, William Lowndes, was but four years old when he 
came to the villiage of Columbus, his future life-long home. 

CHARACTER AND SERVICES. 

The most salient features of Dr. W. L. Lipscomb's char- 
acter were clearness and incisiveness of intellect, independence 
and aggressiveness in action, and the strength and breadth of 
his sympathies and affection. These qualities made him an 
acknowledged leader in whatever cause he espoused. As 
a layman, in every field of church effort he was intelligently 
and deeply interested, and was influential in all its conferences 
from that of his home chLirch to the General Conference of 
the Southern Methodist Church to which he was twice a dele- 
gate from the North Mississippi Annual Conference. The 
history and enterprises of the church were familiar to him, 
and few even among the ministry could state its doctrines so 
clearly or defend them so ably as he. 

Into medicine he carried the same vigorous, analytic, 
independent habit of thought and action. Doubtless his 
large experience as surgeon in the Confederate army contri- 
buted to the self-reliance and directness with which he took 
hold of and managed his cases. As a diagnostician he was 
so successful, that in addition to his large practice, he was 
the physician of the town and county most often called into 
consultation. Prompt and permanent relief with as few 
visits and as little expense as possible otherwise to his patrons 
was evidently his rule in the practice of medicine. 

A "Bourbon Democrat," he opposed any compromise with 
carpet-baggars, scalawags, or negroes after the war, and 
was influential in keeping negroes from becoming office-holders 
n Lowndes County. Just always to the negro, he insisted 
that the white man must rule, and demanded such a plank 
in county, state, and national platforms. Knowing well his 
uncompromising attitude toward them, he was yet one of the 
truest friends and advisers of the negroes of the town in 



12 

the political revolution of 1875 and ever since. They knew 
they could trust him and that he would stoutly defend them 
in all the rights and privileges which should be conceded to 
them. In conventions he was a masterful debater and par- 
limentarian and a ready, forceful speaker on the stump or 
the platform. 

Next after his profession and his church, he however 
was most constantly interested in the cause of education, 
especially the education best suited to the needs of the children 
of the South. The Franklin Academy, the school of his 
boyhood, was the school ever closest to his heart; and it was 
with genuine satisfaction and pride that as County Super- 
intendent of Education he so managed its funds as to be able 
to turn over to its trustees money sufficient to erect the pres- 
ent building without tax on the town. 

In 1870, as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the 
Columbus Female Institute, he drew up the memorial adopted 
by them offering the Institute to the State University as a 
Woman's Department of the University, fifteen years before 
as the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College its doors 
were opened to the girls of the State. How since then he 
watched with pleasure its splendid development, his friends 
well know. 

He was ever also an ardent advocate of the public school 
system, giving the butcher's boy the same chance for a start 
in life as the banker's, bringing rich and poor into close and 
sympathetic contact; welding thus all ranks in bonds of 
mutual respect and co-operative upward progress. 

He was a true democrat religiously, politically, educa- 
tionally, socially; hence, was the friend and champion of 
every cause that sought to bless all alike. Naturally, he 
was beloved, trusted, and praised by those in any circum- 
stances of life that hoped and worked for the good of the 
whole town and county. 

Dabney Lipscomb. 



A History of Columbus, Mississippi, Dur- 
ing the Nineteenth Century. 

BY DR. W. L. LIPSCOMB. 

To the Editor of the Columbus Commercial — 

Mr. Editor — I ask the privilege of contributing to the 
columns of your valuable paper, The Colum-bus Commercial, 
a series of chapters to be entitled "A History of Columbus, 
Mississippi, During the Nineteenth Century." 

The investigations, facts, and incidents have been taken 
from the public records and histories of the state of Missis- 
sippi, and from well authenticated reminiscenses of citizens 
of Columbus and Lowndes county. I write these chapters as 
a tribute to the beautiful city of Columbus, which for sixty- 
nine years has been my much loved and only home. 

Respectfully, 

W. L. Lipscomb. 



CHAPTER I. 
ITS SITE. 

Columbus, Mississippi is situated on the east bank of the 
Tombigbee River on a perpendicular bluff, about three-eighths 
of a mile in width and three hundred feet above the sea level. 
The bluff recedes with a gradual ascent for two miles, where 
it connects with a range of hills running northwest about one 
hundred and twenty miles, where they connect with the 
mountainous regions of northern Alabama; these mountains 
in their turn connecting with the Blue Ridge and Alleghany 
mountains o^ Virginia, thus making the Tombigbee bluff, on 
which Columbus is situated, the terminus of the great Appal- 
achian range of North American mountains. To this preten- 
tious claim to an ancient and elevated pedigree we desire to 
add some romantic and noted historical facts. 

The site of the town of Columbus is the very earliest place 
mentioned in the records of the history of Mississippi. 

In the year, 1540, before the Pilgrim Fathers or the Vir- 
ginia settlers, Hernando DeSoto, the great Spanish cavalier 
and American explorer, with his army of mail-clad knights , 



14 

frocked priests and trained soldiers entered the State of Missis- 
sippi near the site of the town of Columbus. He probably 
crossed the Tombigbee River at this point and proceeded on his 
northwestern journey across the high ridges of the State and 
after a time arrived at Chickasaw Bluflf, now the City of 
Memphis, where he discovered the great "Father of Waters," 
our own Mississippi River, never before seen by the eye of a 
white man. 

Again in 1736, a great flotilla of canoes, barges, and keel 
boats propelled by paddles, oars, and poles, carrying an army 
of 540 French soldiers, 45 negroes, and 600 Choctaw warriors 
passed immediately under the cliffs of the Tombigbee Bluff. 
They ascended the river to Cotton Gin Port. At this place 
they disembarked, and under the command of their general, 
Bienville, Governor of Louisiana, they attacked the villages 
of the Chickasaw Indians with a view to their annihilation. 
After a disgraceful defeat, with a bloody remembrance of 
Chickasaw valor, they returned to their Louisiana home. 

Again in 1814, still another army, comiposed of Kentucky 
and Tennessee volunteers, commanded by Cols. Coffee and 
Carroll, starting from Tuscumbia, Ala., cut for themselves 
the military road over which they passed, crossing the Tom- 
bigbee River at Columbus. The military road is at this time 
one of the principal streets of our city. These troops pushed 
on, still cutting the road through the whole length of the 
State of Mississippi and arrived in New Orleans just in time 
to take part in the memorable battle under General Andrew 
Jackson, before the beleaguered city of New Orleans. Some 
writers say this was on the return from New Orleans. Thus 
in the long ago, with intervening centuries of time, the flags 
of three great nations, Spain, France and America, floated 
over their armies, as they amid growhng bears, howling wolves 
and the astonished gaze of naked savages, passed over the 
site of the beautiful city of Columbus. 

But the chapter is not yet closed. When the general 
government ordered the wilderness and prairies of Mississippi 
to be checked off into townships and sections, the surveyor's 
compass and chain made the lines of a sixteenth section fall 
directly around the little village of Columbus. These sixteenth 
sections were set apart by the general government for the 



15 

establishment and maintenance of schools, and the survey of 
1820 made it possible for the town of Columbus to accomplish 
the great historical fact of the Franklin Academy, the first 
free public school in the State of Mississippi, established in 
1821, and continuing without break in its increasing usefulness 
and prosperity to the present time. 

When in 1830, the County of Lowndes, named after 
William Lowndes, the distinguished Congressman and Gover- 
nor of South Carolina, and for whom the writer of these chap- 
ters, in 1828, had been previously named, was organized, the 
little village of Columbus still in the eye of Fortune was 
chosen as the county seat. 

Surely more than three centuries of time and the nations 
of the earth have contributed much to give to this romantic 
site a history and a name, and our fathers chose wisely and 
well, when they called the town Columbus. It deserved one 
of the earliest and most distinguished names in American 
history. 

In the early years of the century, the Tombigbee BlufE 
was certainly a marvel of virgin beauty and charming interest. 
Standing on its highest cliff, you look down one hundred feet 
to the river below. On the water's edge hung the willows, 
sweeping the passing current with their pendant branches. 
Next above them grew the sycamore with white trunk and 
thick, broad leaves soughing in the summer breeze or rattling 
as the autumn blasts dash them to the ground. Next above 
the sycamores, were the poplars and elms struggling hard to 
raise their tops to greet the morning sun; and above these 
the evergreen cedars and holly with their roots holding to 
and holding up the crumbling earth nearest to its summit, 
while on its crest, great widespreading oaks and gums mingled 
their verdure to shade the favorite walk of our earliest citizens. 
Here lovers strolled to indulge in sweetest sentiment at the 
"Lover's Leap." Here the sad heart could find sympathy 
in the white stones that marked the grave of some early in- 
habitant. Here, expectant friends gathered to see the coming 
steamboat as its white and black smoke mingled with the 
clouds and its noisy wheel drove its sharp prow through the 
resisting current and the forms of the captain and loved ones 



16 

on the top and deck as they return from, what was to them, 
the center of the world, the city of Mobile. 

No wonder our people felt their minds thrill with interest 
and their hearts beat with emotion when the very air was full 
of echoes of the past with such names as De Soto and Bien- 
ville, Columbus and Franklin, Jackson and Lowndes, mingled 
with the Indian names of Tombeckbee, Luxapalila, Butta- 
hatchee, Oktibbeha, Mashulatubbee and Noxubee. Alas! the 
bluff is crumbling away ; the great trees are gone ; great ravines 
and deep gullies have gashed and marred its beautiful slope 
and memory alone can recall the days of its halcyon glory. 



17 



CHAPTER II. 

ITS LOCATION— EARLY SURROUNDINGS— SURVEY AND 
PLAN OF THE TOWN. 

To give Columbus its proper topographic and historic 
setting, it will be necessary to notice further its location. In 
1817, Mississippi Territory was divided into the State of Mis- 
sissippi and Alabama Territory with the present dividing 
boundary line. In 1816 the Chickasaws had ceded to the 
general government a triangular shaped territory, bounded 
on the south and west by the Tombigbee River, on the north 
by a line drawn through the southern portion of the present 
Itawamba County and running east of the Alabama line, 
and on the east by the Alabama line. Between the years 
1816 and 1821 this territory was surveyed and offered for 
sale by the government. 

The first settlers who occupied these lands came from 
the north by way of the military road from Tennessee, North 
Alabama, and from what are now Marion and Lamar Counties. 
From the east they came by Alabama roads leading from 
Pickens and Tuscaloosa counties. These counties had been 
previously settled, the annihilation of the Creek Indians in 
the war of 1812, having brought the Alabama lands directly 
under the control and disposal of the general government. 
These settlers, from the fact that their lands were entered 
and paid for in the land offices of Tuscaloosa or Hunts ville, 
believed that they lived within the bounds of Alabama, and 
tradition tells us of the election or appointment of officers 
under Alabama authority. When they learned that this was 
not the case and that they lived in Mississippi, they sent a 
delegate to the legislature in Jackson. The delegate was 
received but not allowed to vote. 

In 1817, in the southeastern portion of this unorganized 
territory, ten miles west of the Alabama line and 250 miles 
from the mouth of Tombigbee River, Columbus was located, 
and in four years had acquired the proportions of only a 
little village. 

In 1821 Monroe County was organized and included all 
this Chickasaw cession except a small strip on the north. All 
2 



18 

these settlements and the village of Columbus fell within the 
limits of Monroe County. 

This history is limited to a description of the southern 
part of the original Monroe County south of the Buttahatchie 
River and includes what was afterwards called Lowndes 
County, thus making it comply witli the title of the chapter, 
"Early Surroundings of Columbus." 

These lands, taken as a whole, were not considered as 
very desirable or first class agricultural lands. Quite a large 
portion would have ranked as second class. But there was 
a wide plateau of red lands with a good clay subsoil that ex- 
tended through the middle of the entire county, that was re- 
garded, and proved to be extremely fertile, well drained, 
well watered, and offered all the attractions of a delightful 
home to the immigrant farmer. These red lands beginning 
north of Columbus may be represented by "Goshen" as a 
center, and running east across the Luxapalila they included 
what was called "Mulberry flat," thence running south to 
the Nashville road. Old Zion will be in the very midst. In 
this beautiful section of country, tributary to Columbus, the 
very earliest settlers located themselves, some few of them 
before 1821, and others among them years after to 1830, when 
Lowndes County was organized and Columbus became .the 
county seat. Among these earliest and very earliest settlers 
we note the names of Thomas Townsend, James Carter, Early 
Hendricks, represented in Columbus at this time by Mrs. 
Virginia Smith and John Laws; Thomas Cummings, William 
Butler, Peter Nail, WiUiam H. Craven, Benjamin Franklin 
Beckwith(1818), represented by Mrs. Wilham Mustin and Mrs. 
John Snell, John McGowan, Wesley Ross, A. Cook, James 
Brownlee, John Portwood, Thomas Kingcaid, Ezekiel Nash, 
William Weaver (1818), grandfather to Blanche and Walter 
Weaver, John Halbert (1817), perhaps the very first man that 
opened a farm in Lowndes county, grandfather to Dr. A. C. 
Halbert and father to Mrs. William Barksdale, who is prob- 
ably the oldest native living citizen; James McClanahan, 
grandfather to our ex-mayor, Hon. W. D. Humphries; John 
Davis, grandfather to Mrs. Leilia Sykes and Dr. John Davis 
and i^rcat-grandfather to Mrs. Claude Ayres, Nimrod Davis 
and Macajah Brooks. 



19 

On the east we find Silas McBee, Ephriam Leech, father 
to Rev. A. P. Leech and grandfather to Mrs. McWilliams and 
Mrs. Lizzie Leech; Reuben Sanders, uncle to George Sanders; 
Larkin Nash (1821) grandfather to S. M. Nash, Superintendent 
of Education; Thomas Cooper, (1818), Cincinnatus Cooper, 
(1818), grandfather to J. W. Cooper, circuit clerk; Conrad 
Hackleman (1818), Jesse Williams, Martin Franks and Wil- 
liam Ellis. 

On the north, Benjamin Hewson (1817). B. G. Hen- 
dricks, Sr., father to Mrs. Keeler and grandfather to Mrs. 
Flood; Thomas Sampson, Roddy Smith, Vaughan, Morris, 
Duncan, Smith, Mayfield and Murphy. A large portion of 
the Caledonia country was not settled until after 1840. 

This record would be incomplete without another list 
of names, coming in the thirties, sixty or seventy years ago, 
who with those already mentioned made old Lowndes famous 
for its hospitable homes, good politics, pure religion and un- 
impeachable integrity. The writer recalls the names of Cox, 
Littleton, Gordon, Shields, Randolph, Meade, Neilson, Botters, 
Minter, Feemster, Rowan, Kidd, Thomas, Wood, Belk, Buck, 
Flood, Tunnell, Eubanks, Shirley, Snell, Barksdale, Payne, 
Jordan, Seal, Lauderdale, Crigler, Golding, Ellis, Adams, 
Acker, and Laws. 

Among the general facts of historical interest it may be 
proper to mention that although the county on the east side 
of the Tombigbee River belonged to the Chickasaw Indians, 
there was an almost entire absence of evidence of Indian 
settlements, such as Indian relics, remains of Indian villages 
or farms, there being only one notable exception to the state- 
ment. Fifteen miles below Columbus, opposite Union Bluff, 
near the Tombigbee River, there is a large mound situated 
in the midst of an Indian field, the field being covered with 
pine trees apparently one or two centuries old. This mound 
appears to have been erected as a place of defense against 
other tribes or a place of safety for their stock in high water. 

This portion of the country extending northward to Beav- 
er and Bear Creeks was probably the hunting grounds of the 
Chickasaws as it abounded in deer, turkeys, bear, beaver, 
otter, wolves, and wild cats. 



20 

Another noticeable feature of this section was its complete 
isolation, being separated from all other parts of the State, 
on the south, west, and north by the territories of the Choctaw 
and Chickasaw Indians, one hundred and twenty or more 
miles in width, on which white settlers were not permitted 
to locate and through which nothing but Indian trails, not 
wagon roads, were allowed to run. It had to depend for its 
population and comforts of civilized life upon the State of 
Alabama, itself a sparsely settled wilderness. 

For a verification of this meagre and rapid history of 
Lowndes county we are indebted to pages of facts, incidents 
and dates, collected by Hon. L. D. Landrum, Esq., 'who pur- 
posed, at one time, to write a history of Lowndes county. 
Notably, in his chapters, are the statements of Benjamin 
Hewson, ninety years of age, taken down by his daughter 
in 1898, and Davie Craven (colored), taken down in his 
own language, both known to the writer and which we believe, 
very nearly authentic. We hope Mr. Landrum will not permit 
his material for a history of Lowndes county to be lost or go 
unpublished. 

Notwithstanding its isolation this territory in five years 
was sufficiently populated to be organized into Monroe county. 
Of even date with the organization of Monroe county, in 1821, 
the town of Columbus, with a wide-awake and commendable 
energy and with an intuition and wisdom, that looked like 
foresight, promptly availed itself of the very best assistance 
its new govermental relations could afford. The same legis- 
lature that organized Monroe county passed a bill directing 
the survey and lease of the sixteenth section on which Colum- 
bus was situated and the establishment of the Franklin Acad- 
emy. This bill being the most important and oldest public 
document in the history of Columbus, we hereby append it 
in full. 

For this copy of the bill we are indebted to Col. W. D. 
Humphries, ex-mayor of the City, who obtained it after per- 
sistent effort from the public records at Jackson, Miss. Col- 
umbus owes Col. Humphries a large and long debt of gratitude 
for securing this valuable document. 



21 

An Act to Authorize a Lease of Certain Town Lots 
Therein Named, and for Other Purposes. 

Whereas, It has been made to appear that the town site of 
Columbus is included in the sixteenth section of fractional 
township number eighteen, range number eighteen, west of 
the basis meridian of Madison county, Alabama, therefore. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the State of Mississippi, in general assembly 
convened, That William Cocke, Gideon Lincecum, Robert 
D. Hadden, Richard Barry, Thomas Townsend, Silas M'Bee, 
John Deck, William Leech and David Kincaid, be and they 
are hereby appointed commissioners to lay out the southwest 
quarter of said fractional section, or so much of it as they may 
think suitable for town lots, which shall not contain more 
than one acre, nor less than one fourth of an acre, as they 
may deem proper. 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That when the 
commissioners shall have laid out said town lots, it shall be 
the duty of the county court of Monroe county, at the first 
term of court after the passage of this act, or at any subse- 
quent term of said court, to appoint three agents for the pur- 
pose of leasing said town lots; and the said agents or a ma- 
jority of them shall have power to lease the said lots for the 
term of ninety-nine years, reserving an annual rent therefor, 
payable on a certain day in each year, and to take security 
from the lessees as to insure a certainty and punctuality of 
payment; and in case of any vacancy in said agency, the 
said county court shall have power to fill the same as occasion 
may, from time to time, require. It shall be the duty of said 
agents or a majority of them, to give public notice at three 
public places in said county, of the day and place of leasing 
said lots at least twenty days previous thereto ; and they shall 
on such day or days offer the said lots separately at public 
outcry, and the same shall be leased to the highest bidder. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be 
the duty of the agents appointed, or a majority of them, under 
the direction of the said county court, to apply with impar- 
tiality the proceeds arising from the rents of said lots and lands 
to the purpose of education and no other, according to the 
direction of the act of congress, entitled "An act to provide 



22 

for leasing certain lands reserved for support of schools," 
in the Mississippi Territory, approved the ninth day of Jan- 
uary, eighteen hundred and fifteen; and that said agents shall 
before entering on the duties of their agency give security 
to the said county court, in such sum and penalty as said 
court shall require, conditioned for the faithful discharge of 
their duty in all respects. 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted. That the said agents 
shall have power and authority to lease for the prrpose of 
improvement, or for an annual rent, the other lands in said 
county appropriated by the congress of the United States to 
the support of schools; they in all things conforming to the 
directions of the act of congress herein before referred to. 

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted. That there shall 
be established in the county of Monroe an academy by the 
name of Franklin Academy. 

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the afore- 
said commissioners hereinbefore expressly named shall be a 
body politic and corporate, by the name of the president and 
trustees of Franklin Academy, and by that name shall be 
capable in law, to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, 
in any of the courts of law or equity in this State, to receive 
all donations, and in general, may do all acts for the benefit 
of said Institution which are incident to, or of right apper- 
taining to bodies politic and corporate. 

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted. That the first 
meeting of the trustees shall be on the first Monday in June 
next, in the town of Columbus, at which time and place they 
or a majority of them shall choose a president by ballot, out 
of their own body, and in case a majority shall not attend at 
the first appointed meeting, it shall be in the power of any 
three members to call a meeting of said trustees by advertise- 
ment in the town of Columbus, giving ten days notice of said 
intended meeting, at which time the members present shall 
be competent to choose a president; and thereafter the ordi- 
nary meetings of the board of trustees shall be on their own 
adjournment. 

Sec 8. And be it further enacted. That the president, 
or in his absence, a member shall be chosen, pro tempore, as 
president of the present meeting, and that the board of trus- 



23 

tees appointed by this act, shall have full power to fix upon a 
site for erecting and building said academy; they shall also 
have power of controlling the regulations of such institutions, 
and of employing such teachers as they may deem necessary 
for the literary order of said academy and the good morals 
of the students. 

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the trustees 
may increase their numbers to the number of twelve and no 
more; they may fill by ballot all vacancies occasioned by 
death, removal or resignation; the board may, at their regular 
meetings, appoint a successor or successors; Provided, 
That the person or persons so chosen or appointed shall, on 
his accepting said appointment, bind himself in a bond pre- 
cisely in the same manner as is prescribed for the commission- 
ers or trustees hereinbefore mentioned. 

Sec 10. And be it further enacted. That the trustees 
be and they are hereby authorized to raise by way of lottery 
for the benefit of said academy, the sum of five thousand 
dollars, on such scheme and plan as they may deem advisable. 

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted. That all acts and 
parts of acts, coming within the purview and meaning of 
this act, be and they are hereby repealed. 

Beverly R. Grayson, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
James Patton, 
Lieutenant-Governor and President of the Senate. 
Approved, February 10, 1821, 

George Poindexter. 



24 



CHAPTER III. 

SURVEY AND PLAN OF TOWN CONTINUED— LEASES AND 
LEASE-HOLD TITLES. 

The sixteenth section, township 18, range 18 west, 
ordered by the above act to be surveyed and laid off into town 
lots of not more than one acre or less than one-fourth of an 
acre each, is situated within the present limits of the City of 
Columbus and may be bounded as follows: Begin at a point 
near the west end of Fourth Avenue South, formerly La- 
Fayette Street, running thence one mile due east, (passing 
immediately in front of the old Barry residence facing what 
was then the south end of Market Street) to a point near the 
southeast corner of the grounds of the Industrial Institute and 
College, thence north, on a line passing along the east boundary 
of the old grave-yard at east end of Main Street to a point 
on the corporation line one mile from the southeast corner, 
thence west on the corporation line, running through Dr. 
Hardy's residence, to a point one mile west of said northeast 
corner, thence one mile south to the point of beginning on 
the Tombigbee River. These are the boundaries as they 
appear on the present maps of the City. 

It is plain that the surveyors did not lay off the streets 
and squares parallel with the section lines. The most ap- 
parent reason for this divergence is that they desired to con- 
form to the longest lines east and west, and north and south 
on the Tombigbee bluff, or wished to make the principal 
streets. Main and Market, a continuance of the important 
country roads entering the town. 

The streets fail to conform with the point of the compass, 
the section lines being our guide, by about two hundred yards 
in a mile. This accounts for the fractional squares on all 
sides of the section. The survey made about fifteen streets 
running east and west and the same number running north 
and south, thus dividing the section into about 225 squares 
and fractions. To corroborate the idea that the surveyors 
had regard to the long distances on the crest of the bluff", we 
find that most of the sites of the early residences were located 
on this ridge running northeast to southwest. This preference 



25 

for residence sites on this ridge continued until all the ridge 
was occupied to the base of the hills two miles north of the 
town, at which point in 1836 there was a survey made by 
Walthall, Hodges & Co., for a town to be called "Prospect 
Hill." The town of Prospect Hill included the big spring on 
Military road, two and a half miles from Columbus. These gen- 
tlemen bought this property from a Chickasaw Indian named 
Immahoboh, who received it as his reservation from the 
United States government. 

In the original survey Main Street occupied its present 
location, running east and west across the section, being 120 
feet wide, and terminated on the west at the ferry across the 
Tombigbee, as it does now by the iron bridge over that stream, 
and on the east by connection with the county road crossing 
at a ferry on the Luxapalila, now spanned by an iron bridge. 
This road connects Columbus with Pickens and Fayette coun- 
ties, Ala. Market Street, eighty feet wide, crossed Main 
Street at right angles, and at its southern extremity was a 
continuation of the lower Tuscaloosa road, which running 
diagonally across the squares left the town at the Palmer 
Orphanage, thence south to a ferry across the Luxapalila at 
a place where Blewett's bridge, built in 1837, formerly stood. 
This road was the first over which the stages passed bringing 
the mail and passengers to Columbus. 

Market Street, at its northern extremity, connected with 
the Hamilton road, which leads to old Hamilton, the county 
seat of Monroe county. The only point on these two streets 
that can be relied on as correct, from the original survey, and 
showing the proper direction of the survey, is the brick building 
on the southwest corner of the Main and Market Street crossing 
built by Henry W. Hunt, in 1831 or 1832, the walls of which 
still occupy their original site. The building is now occupied 
as Hirshman's dry goods store. 

About 1830 an additional survey was added to the survey 
of the 16th section, at its southwest corner, and called Moore's 
survey. Moore's survey was bounded on the north by the 
16th section line, on the east by St. Johns, now Fourth Street, 
on the we^t by the Tombigbee River. This survey was 
laid off into streets and squares to correspond with the plan 
of the town, with one exception, the subdivision of the square 



26 

made the lots run east and west instead of north and south. 
The date of the survey is located at or before 1S30, when 
Lowndes county was established and Columbus became the 
county seat, because the residences of some of our oldest 
citizens, notably T. M. Tucker, H. S. Bennett, Roddy Smith, 
L. G. Hatch, and otners were located on that survey at that 
time. 

Next, at a later date, prior to 1836, came Barry's survey, 
joining the town on the southeast. This survey was bounded 
on the north by the sixteenth section line, on the east by an 
extension of the section line south, seven squares, thence 
west to St. John's street. The squares and streets in Barry's 
survey do not correspond exactly with those in the plan of 
the town. The east and west streets appear to have been 
named for some of the female members of the Barry family. 

The next survey, which was made in February, 1836, 
was that of Hopkins and Grigsby, and comprised that 
part of the present plan and not included in the other surveys. 
The public sale of the squares and lots in Grigsby's survey 
was accompanied with all the attendants of a modern city 
boom, such as a brass band, free whiskey, champagne, etc. 

The present City .of Columbus (1901), includes within 
its limits, all of these four surveys, together with a strip of 
land on the east, one fourth of a mile wide and one and 
three-fourths miles long — making a city block one and one- 
fourth miles wide by one and three-fourths miles long. The 
strip of land on the east has not been regularly laid off, and 
the streets and squares do not correspond with the streets 
and squares of Columbus, except in Robertson's Addition, a 
recent survey, well laid off and rapidly filling up with comfort- 
able cottages and thrifty people. 

LEASE-HOLD TITLES AND PROPERTY. 

Tne commissioners having complied with the provisions 
of the Act relating to the survey of the section and its division 
into lots, the next most important duty in the Act is the leasing 
of these lots, which duty was performed by three agents, 
appointed by the county court of Monroe county, Hon. Steph- 
en Cocke being the only one of these agents whose name is 
at this time procurable. These agents are supposed to have 



27 

complied strictly with the provisions of the Act and leased 
at public outcry to the highest bidder these lots for a term of 
ninety-nine years, for specified sums to be annually collected 
and properly secured, and to have appropriately applied the 
money thus raised for school purposes. 

It also appears probable from subsequent facts, that 
these agents turned over the money first received from these 
leases to the trustees of the Franklin Academy, an Institution 
incorporated by the same act, and for which the trustees had 
been appointed. This board of trustees was composed of 
the same persons who were commissioned to survey and lay 
off the lots. 

It is also probable that these agents not only turned 
over the money to the board of trustees but that they also 
empowered them to make deeds or lease-hold titles for the 
lots which had been leased. It is certainly true, that the 
original deeds or lease-hold titles were signed by the trustees 
of the Franklin Academy, and that the money arising from 
the leases, was collected by them. Another fact is also true, 
that these original deeds contain the words, " Renewable 
Forever," as an addition to the term of lease of "Ninety- 
Nine Years," contained in the Act. 

However this irregularity in extending the term of lease 
may have occurred, the validity of the deeds containing this 
extension, has been ratified by legislative acts, both of the 
State (Act of 1830) and general government, (Act of Congress 
1857.) 

The State Act of 1830 not only ratified the past action 
of the trustees of the Franklin Academy but continued their 
authority to collect and control the sixteenth section school 
money and to insert " Renewable Forever " in their 
future deeds. 

Another fact connected with this 16th section lease-hold 
property in the town of Columbus, is that from the time of 
leasing in 1821 to 1839, it was noir considered subject to taxa- 
tion of any kind and that from 1821 to 1839, a period of eight- 
teen years, no taxes of any kind were collected, although 
during that period Lowndes county had been organized and 
the town of Columbus selected as the county seat. This 



28 

exemption was recognized by the municipal, county and state 
governments. 

In the year 1839, the town of Columbus, finding itself 
in need of money for municipal purposes, (notably to purchase 
a fire engine) applied by a petition from the mayor and board 
of selectmen to the State Legislature, to grant them the power 
to levy a tax on these exempted school lots for this purpose. 
In accordance with the petition which was incorporated in 
the Act, the Legislature of 1839 authorized the mayor and 
selectmen to collect a municipal tax of 1-4 of 1 per cent. 
from year to year. 

This right to tax lease-hold school property was not 
submitted to quietly by the property owners, and in 1844 the 
Act of 1839 was repealed, but in 1846 it was reenacted with the 
authority to tax extended to the State and County as well and 
in 1857 an act declared lease-hold property subject to taxation 
like any other property. This act was sustained by a decision 
of the Supreme Court of Mississippi in 1898, in the case of Street 
and others versus City of Columbus. The attorneys were 
Hon. J. A. Orr for plaintiff and Col. Wm. Baldwin for the city. 
For a verification of these statements and facts, the reader 
is referred to this decision of the supreme court. 

The amount of lease arising from the lots in the 16th 
section in Columbus, at one time, reached an approximate of 
$6,000, but has been reduced by forfeitures and releasing to 
the present amount of $2,398.54. For thirty years back the 
trustees of the Franklin Academy have maintained the policy 
of not allowing the leases to fall below this amount. In all 
forfeitures, their agent is instructed to bid the lease due, as 
the lowest bid to be received. 

The last instance of a reduction was that in the property 
now owned by Col. T. J. O'Neil many years preyious. Mr. 
A. R. Wolfington reduced the lease on his lot, now owned by 
Mr. Blanche Weaver, by moving a two-story residence back 
across the 16th section line, which ran through the lot, and 
after the reduction moved the house back again. 

Keeler's Almanac for 1850 contains this item, "The school 
fund amounts to between $2,500 and $3,000 annually, under 
the supervision of a board of trustees elected every two years 
bv the resident voters of the township." 



29 



CHAPTER IV. 

EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF COLUMBUS. 

The following names of the earliest inhabitants of Colum- 
bus were taken from the Public Records of tne vState, Keeler's 
History of Columbus, in his Almanac of 1850, Rev. George 
Shaeffer's History of Columbus, published in The Columbus 
Index when Gen. J. H. Sharp was editor, Lowry's History of 
Mississippi, (large edition 1891) and from family records. 

Before 1821. 

Thomas Thomas, Spirus Roacn, Tnomas Sampson, Wil- 
Ham Vizer, William Poor, Silas McBee, Thos. Townsend, 
Greene Bailey, Dr. B. C. Barry, Silas Brown, Richard Barry, 
Hancock Chisholm, William Connover, Wilham Fernandes, 
Robert D. Haden, William Leech, Gideon Lincecum, William 
Cocke, Bartlett Sims, Martin Sims, Ovid P. Brown, William 
L. Moore, Edward Kewen. 

As the history of Columbus is necessarily contained in 
the lives and deeds of these earliest pioneers, it may be deemed 
best to give a short sketch of the most prominent. They are 
taken somewhat according to the date of their settlement. 

Thomas Thomas, or Thomas Moore, as some historians 
call him, is entitled to the honor of being the first settler in 
Columbus. The hard features and peculiar manners of that 
rugged pioneer, Spirus Roach, were the occasion of that Indian 
name, Shuk-ha-tah Toma-ha, or Opossum Town. Silas McBee 
first suggested the euphonius and historic name Columbus. 
He left the town at an early date and settled on the bank of 
the creek, which now bears his name. 

Judge Thomas O. Sampson settled in Columbus in 1818. 
In 1821 he was the charter worshipful master of Columbus 
lodge No. 5. He was perhaps the earliest judge and clerk of 
the Probate court of Lowndes County. He moved to his 
farm on the Military road, thirteen miles from Columbus, and 
died there. He had two daughters. The elder married 
James Henry, a citizen of Columbus. Mr. Henry built the 
cottage on College Street known as the Womelsdorff cottage. 
His son, Robert Henry, was born there and now lives in Pick- 
ens County, Ala., eleven miles from Columbus, on the upper 



30 

Tuscaloosa road. His younger daughter married Hon. M. M. 
Rowan, whose son, Mr. Frank Rowan still resides at the old 
Sampson homestead. 

Hon. Robert D. Haden came from Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 
1819 and opened a store near the center of the square on 
Main Street opposite the Gilmer hotel. He was a member 
of the commissioners that surveyed the town of Columbus 
in 1821 and a charter officer of Columbus Lodge No. 5. He 
represented Monroe County in the State Legislature in 1826 
before Lowndes County was organized. He was for several 
terms judge and clerk of the probate court in Lowndes County, 
and was afterwards receiver in the land offices. He was an 
original officer in the Columbus Riflemen. He belonged to 
the very first society of the Methodist church formed in Colum- 
bus and worshipped with them in the Franklin Academy. He 
assisted in the building of the first church in Columbus in 
1831-2 and was a working, faithful, consistent member to 
the date of his removal to Texas in 1885. He died in Texas, 
past eighty years of age and totally blind. His first wife was 
a daughter of Hamilton McGowan, a farmer in the southern 
part of Lowndes County. By this wife he had two children. 
Dr. John M. Haden and Miss Sophie Haden. Dr. John M. 
Haden read medicine in the office of Dr. Dabney Lipscomb, 
graduated in the medical department of the University of 
Louisiana, and was appointed assistant surgeon in the United 
States Army. He served on the western frontier at different 
posts from Oregon to El Paso, Texas, at which place he was 
on duty when the war broke out in 1861. He with Major, 
afterwards Gen. Longstreet, resigned their positions and ac- 
cepted service in the Confederate army. He was made sur- 
geon and appointed medical director of the army of Louisiana 
and Mississippi, with headquarters at New Orleans. After 
the capture of New Orleans he was made medical director of 
the Trans-Mississippi department. After the war he settled 
in Galveston, Texas, and died suddenly on the steps of a 
hotel in Philadelphia, where he had gone to enter his two 
sons in Jefferson Medical College. These two sons are 
the oldest grand-children of the subject of this sketch. The 
oldest daughter of Robert D. Haden married Mr Williamson 
Glover, a wealthy planter in the canebrake region, Greene 



County, Alabama. Her step-grand-daughter, Mrs. Ledyard 
Vaughan, now resides in Columbus. Judge Haden's second 
wife was the widow of Dr. Bartlett Hunt, who at the time of 
her marriage had two children, Bartlett C. Hunt and Cerynthia 
Hunt. Miss Cerynthia Hunt married W. C. Mills, and her 
daughter. Miss Minnie Mills, has at this time charge of the 
Palmer Orphanage in Columbus. Judge Haden's son by 
his second marriage moved to Texas, and became a prominent 
physician in that State. His third wife. Miss Mary Eldridge, 
of North Alabama, by whom he had two children, James and 
Virginia, moved with him to Texas, where they now reside. 

Hon. Ovid P. Brown was a South Carolinian and moved 
to Columbus in 1819. He lived first in a log house on the 
bluff where Thomas Thomas, the first inhabitant settled in 
1817, and where Spirus Roach kept the first tavern, now 
known as the Eckford place. His wife was Lucinda Sims, 
step-daughter to William Cocke, who married her mother 
Keziah Sims, and whom history states was the first person 
who died in Columbus (doubtful). This log house on this 
historic spot, was for several years a rendezvous for the Sims, 
Cocke, and Brown families. In 1824 Ovid P. Brown moved 
to a farm on Military road on Black creek, now known' as 
the Gaston place. He resided there until 1832, when he re- 
turned to Columbus and built a residence on the southwest 
corner of the square on which Mrs. Ann Franklin now lives, 
which was his home until his death. He was for many years 
clerk of the Circuit court of Lowndes county. He joined the 
very first organization of the Methodist church in Columbus 
in 1822, worshiped in the Franklin Academy, and afterwards 
assisted in building a church in 1832. He had a large 
family of children. His oldest son, Stephen A. Brown, was 
bom in Columbus, in 1823, and moved with his father to his 
farm on Black Creek, near which he received his earliest edu- 
cation in a country log school house, with dirt floor, puncheon 
seats, dirt chirnney, and doors made of split boards hung with 
wooden hinges. His first teachers were Martin Sims, Mr. 
McCrary, Capt. Abram Botters, and a Mr. Frazier. He re- 
turned to Columbus in 1832 and resumed his education under 
Rev. David Wright, then principal of Franklin Academy. This 
is the first authentic record of Lo-\vndes county school teachers, 



32 

and of a principal of the Franklin Academy. He finished his 
education at La Grange, Ala. Judge S. A. Brown lived his 
whole life in Columbus, Miss., and filled many places of local 
honor and usefulness, both in church and state. He had a 
special taste for history and historic records. To h'm the 
city, and the Methodist church especially, are indebted for 
many valuable and accurately kept records. Mr. Ovid P. 
Brown and Mrs. Fannie Beale represent their grand-father 
in Columbus at this time. Judge O. P. Brown's second 
daughter. Miss Mary Bettie Brown, also resides in Columbus, 
which has been her home for 69 years. 

Maj. Richard Barry arrived in Columbus in 1819, where 
he began life as a hotel keeper. H s first location in the town 
is a subject of much dispute by his early friends. Some locate 
it at the southeast comer of Main and Market streets, now 
occupied by Osborne & Pope's drug store; others, the site 
of the Gilmer hotel; still others place him at the southwest 
corner of the same square, where Mrs. O'Malley now lives. 
The probabilities are in favor of the site of the Gilmer hotel. 
Maj. Barry had several brothers and sisters who came with 
him to Columbus, viz: Dr. B. C. Barry, who married the 
sister of Col. C. H. Abert, and a brother, who was the father 
of Mrs. Clarissa Barry Shaeflfer, wife of the Rev. Geo. ShaefTer, 
and Mrs. Nancy Barry Brooks, wife of Col. Madison Brooks, 
of Noxubee county. His sisters married Dr. B. C. Hunt, 
of Columbus, and Mr. Sullivan, of Monroe Coanty, Miss. Maj. 
Ricnard Barry was a member of the survey commission in 
1821. His business of hotel keeping, being a most lucrative 
one, and success in land speculation made him a rich man in 
the early history of Columbus. He settled farms on the east 
and west sides of the Tombigbee, and in 1831 built the Barry 
mansion at the south end of Market Street. His oldest child, 
a son, W. S. Barry, was born in Columbus. He was educated 
at Yale College, studied law, and soon after his majority was 
elected to the State legislature and speaker of the house. 
He was a member of the United States Congress, President 
of the Mississippi Secession Convention, and in the Civil War 
was Colonel of the 35th Mississippi regiment. He was wound- 
ed in the shoulder at the battle of Altoona, Ga., and from the 
effect of this, and a constitutional disease he died in Columbus. 




RESIDENCE OF B. A. WEAVER. 



33 

He married Miss Sallie Fearn, of Huntsville, Ala., and left 
an only son, Hon. W. S. Barry, a wealthy planter in Leflore 
county, Miss. 

Maj. Richard Barry's oldest daughter married Dr. B. W. 
Benson, who was Secretary of State under one of the early 
governors. Her second husband was Mr. Ricks, a wealthy 
planter in Madison county. Miss. His second daughter mar- 
ried Dr. R. F. Matthews, of Columbus, their only daughter 
Mrs. Sully Bradford, with her children, representing at this 
time the ancient and honored Barry family. His third 
daughter, Mrs. Mary Frierson, wife of Rev. S. A. Frierson, 
who resided in Starkville, Miss., leaves several families as 
representatives in that county. Miss Juliette Barry married 
Col. Bradford, father of T. B. Bradford, late husband of Mrs. 
Sully Bradford mentioned above, thus making her family 
double representatives of their grandfather. Miss Patty 
Barry married Col. Geo. Abert, now a resident of this city. 
His daughter and family reside in Richmond, Va. Maj. 
Richard Barry was an elder in the Presbyterian church from 
the date of its organization in Columbus in 1832. Dr. B. C. 
Barry was the first State Senator from Monroe county. He 
died young and was buried in the graveyard on the Tombigbee 
bluff at the northwest corner of Capt. W. W. Humphries' 
square. Dr. Hunt was also buried at this place. 

Hon. William Cocke moved from Kentucky after he had 
received distinguished honors from that State. He had been 
United States Senator and held other honorable positions. 
He was the father of Hon. Stephen Cocke by his first wife. 
He was a member of the survey commission in 1821 and 
represented Monroe county in the State legislature in 1822. 
He moved to Mississippi about 1820. His second wife, whom 
he married in Columbus, was Miss Keziah Sims. He had 
no children by this wife. He lived a quiet and useful life 
and died in Columbus about 1824. His son, Hon. Stephen 
Cocke, was a prominent lawyer and politician from Monroe 
county. Rev. Martin Sims was an interpreter for the govern- 
ment and the Mayhew mission to the Choctaw Indians. He 
died in Columbus at the advanced age of 85 years. Benjamin 

3 



34 

F. Sims was the first sheriff of Monroe county. The descend- 
ants of William Sims live in Aberdeen, Miss. 

William Leech was a member of the commission in 1821, 
and the father of Capt. Elbert C. Leech, of Columbus, and 
Ephraim Leech, of East Lowndes, to whom mention was 
made in the second chapter of this history. Capt. E. C. Leech 
lived in Columbus from his boyhood. The Tombigbee River 
was the scene of his labors, being a most successful pilot and 
steamboat captain on that stream. He acquired a handsome 
fortune, built several houses in Columbus, wHere he resided 
until a few months before his death. He married Miss Eliza 
Bartee, and died without issue. The wife of William Leech 
was buried in the Tombigbee graveyard. 

Col. Thomas Townsend came to Columbus in 1819 and 
was employed on the survey in 1821. He engaged in merchan- 
dise and acquired a large fortune. He moved from Lowndes 
county and settled on his plantation is south Monroe. His 
son. Major William P. Townsend, was a gallant officer in the 
Mexican war and distinguished himself in the capture of 
Monterey. He married Miss Jennings, daughter of Artemus 
Jennings, and settled in Texas, where he died and left several 
children. 

JUDGE B. F. BECKWITH. 

Sir Hercules De Malebesd was a Saxon. He owned lands in Eng- 
land of which he took possession and married Lady Bruce Beckwith. 
He then took the name of Lord Hercules De Malebesd Beckwith. 
He had one daughter who married Kent, of the Castle of Kent, and 
four sons, two of whom remained in England and two came to America. 
One of them settled in Virginia and the other in Connecticut. 

Benjamin Franklin BeckAvith, the subject of this sketch, was a 
descendant of the one who settled in Connecticut. He was bom Feb- 
ruary 1, 1810, in Abbeville District, South Carolina. His father died 
while he was quite young, leaving his mother with two small children, 
Benjamin and Mary. His mother subsequently married again. 
Benjamin did not approve of his stepfather's conduct and ran away 
from home. This was in 1819. He invested all the money he had in 
a little Indian pony and joined a company that was going. on a pros- 
pecting tour. There were not many roads, only what were called 
"bridle paths"through the wilderness. They slept at night in the 
woods without tents in the open air by pine-knot fires. He stopped 
at Tuscaloosa and liked the country so much that in a short time he, 
with the help of friends, brought his mother and sisters to Tuscaloosa, 
Ala, There he assisted one of his step-sisters to set type for the first 
newspaper that was ever publi.'^hed in Tuscaloosa. It was called The 
Argus. 

Benjamin also helped to plant the large oak trees through the mid- 
dle of the streets of Tuscaloosa, some of them still living after eighty 



:35 

Many names are omitted from special mention on account 
of the paucity of facts and incidents in their personal history. 
The physical and mental characteristics of those whose lives 
are sketched, deserve more than a passing notice. Some of 
them are known to the readers of these chapters and they have 
marked the peculiar angularity of their features and their 
square, firm set, and muscular frames, all indicating the early 
lives they led and that they had not been reared in king's 
houses. They were calm, quiet, silent men. Their words 
were few, their actions measured, with an entire absence of 
nervous irritability or boisterous expressions. They could 
easily be considered the associates of the "Stoic of the Wilder- 
ness," and lived in times when words meant deeds, and acts 
involved success, perhaps life itself. Though far away from 
the restrictions of law and the customs of civilized society, 
subjected to every kind of temptation, none of them were 
drunkards or gamblers or libertines. Their code of morals 
was equal to the most advanced standard of ethics and in 
their daily lives, they exemplified the great truths and inherent 
power of the Christian religion. They established Masonry 
with all its bonds of fraternal association. They squared 



years. He lived several years in and around Tuscaloosa and then with 
his mother, sister and uncle, Abner Nash, moved to Coluinbus, Miss. 
There was no town then, nothing but a ferry across the river and one 
or two small houses. He often told about killing a deer on what is 
now known as "Bradford Square." It was then a dense wood. There 
were only one or two families living in Columbus at that time. 

Benjamin Beckwith had but few school advantages. He used 
to work in the day and study at night by a pine-knot fire. On March 
17, 1S29, at the age of nineteen he was married to Miss Sarah Cox, a 
girl of seventeen. 

Benjamin Beckwith and Sarah Cox had eight children, all of whom 
grew to maturity and married except one, Robert Beckwith, who died 
during the Confederate war at Chattanooga, Tenn. Benjamin mar- 
ried again, a widow, Mrs. Martha Bryant, who had one daughter (now 
Mrs. John A. Snell, of Columbus, Miss.) He had one daughter by his 
second wife, Blanch Eugenia Beckwith, now Mrs. William S. Mustin, 
of Columbus, Miss. He held the office of Judge of Police Court and 
after that he was always called Judge Beckwith. 

Benjamin Beckwith accumulated a nice property and lived to a 
good old age. He passed away on January 9th, 1891, within a few 
days of eighty-one years. His children are all dead except two daugh- 
ters, one by his first wife, Mrs. Ella Hatch, and one by his last, Mrs. 
Blanch Mustin. 

This country was full of Indians when he first came and he traded 
with them and learned their language and often amused his children 
when young by talking Indian to them. 



36 



their actions by the square of virtue, and lived in the presence 
of the All Seeing Eye. They erected churches and became 
themselves deacons and stewards and elders therein. They 
built school houses and taught their children that education 
was the foundation of intelligent citizenship and a life of 
usefulness and success. Their whole lives testified to the 
fact that they were nature's noblemen and after God's best 
pattern of honest men and Christian gentlemen. They de- 
serve the highest niche in Columbus' history, and an abiding 
place in the memory of her citizens. Let her seven thousand 
people bow as a tribute of respect and honor to these, the 
earliest founders of their beautiful city. 





BliXIAMIX IRAXKLIX BECKWITH. 



37 



CHAPTER V. 
1820 TO 1830— GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

Several very important events occurred early during 
the decade from 1820 to 1830, which largely influenced the 
increase in population and material development of Columbus. 
The first was the arrival of the U. S. mail, which took place 
in 1821, Gideon Lincecum being the first postmaster. The 
first mail was opened in a small frame house on the spot on 
which the beautiful home of the Elks now stands. This 
post office was the first frame building erected in Columbus. 
The next event was the arrival of the steamboat, the Cotton 
Plant, Capt. Chandler. 

The third was the location of the State Capitol at Jackson 
and the establishment of a post road by the State from Jackson 
to Columbus (Riley). And last but not least, the erection 
of Moore's saw and grist mill on the Luxapalila, a mile and 
a half east of the town. A good idea of the town of Columbus 
at this time may be obtained from a graphic description made 
by Rev. Geo. Shaeffer in a newspaper article written in 1872, 
entitled "Columbus in 1822 by its oldest inhabitant." This 
sketch is commended to the attention of several of our fine 
artists, such as Miss Ella Sherrod and Miss Ruth Kennebrew, 
as a subject for a full page illustration in a future history of 
Mississippi. The description reads as follows: 

"As may be supposed, Columbus was a small place when 
my eyes first beheld it in 1822. It contained about 150 in- 
habitants. Main Street presented quite a different appearance 
from. at present; only a few scattering houses. On the south 
side at the west end, there was a large house composed of 
four rooms in each story, with a cross passage through the 
center each direction; this stood on the point of the hill. It 
was occupied by the venerable Judge Cocke, who called it 
"the big pile of logs." The next house, going east, was a 
one storied store about 20 by 30, a frame, kept by Judge 
Haden; it stood about opposite the postoffice. The next 
was a small two story frame store on the corner opposite the 
hotel, occupied by John B. Raser. Between that and the 



38 

comer of Main and Market Streets, there was quite a hollow; 
the first house from Raser's was a log blacksmith shop in 
the hollow about half way the square. The next house was 
a small tailor shop. The next was a one story frame, standing 
sidewise to the street, about 50 feet long, occupied by Capt. 
C. Adams as a store; this house stood about where Knapp's 
shop stands. The next house was an old carpenter's shop 
on the Gross corner. There was a carpenter's shop on the 
corner occupied by Humphries and Hudson (now Beard's) ; 
from thence east and south was covered with pines and small 
bushes. On the north side of Main Street, west end, there 
was a one story store kept by Capt. Kewen. The next build- 
ing was a small retail whiskey shop; the next Barry's tavern, 
a two story house of pretty large dimension, a frame, but 
unfinished; it stood on the corner where the Gilmer hotel 
is kept. On the opposite comer where The Index office is 
kept, stood a small two story framed house occupied below 
as Dr. Barry's shop and above as a masonic lodge. From 
these, going east was no building, until after crossing quite 
a deep hollow, you arrived at a long one story house, occupied 
in part by Major William Dowsing as a tavern, and in the 
west end as a small retail store; this house was on Blair's 
comer. Market street was not built upon. The balance of 
the village was composed of a few small log cabins scattered 
among the bushes. The Franklin Academy was a small 
frame house 30 by 40, not ceiled nor plastered; this was the 
preaching place for all denominations; the Methodist was 
the only organized church at that time, composed of a very 
few members." 

The establishment of the U. S. mail service and the navi- 
gation of the Tombigbee River by steamboats were events 
of incalculable importance to the town. The early settlers 
could now communicate with their families and neighbors 
in the states from which they came, giving information of 
their health and physical surroundings and the assurance 
that the rigors and deprivations of frontier life were fast 
passing away. They could hurry the imigrants that were 
awaiting their reports of their new Mississippi homes with the 
encouraging facts of a healthy climate and fertile and well 
watered lands. Weekly steamboats brought provisions, 



39 

agricultural implements, machinery, and house-hold comforts 
of every description. Nothing was now wanting but an 
industrious population to build houses, clear lands and by 
their toil reap rich harvests for home consamption and the 
markets of the world. The result was the immigrants came 
in great numbers with their families, slaves, and horses. The 
country filled up with great rapidity and the towns received 
their share of the incoming tide. Merchants, carpenters, 
blacksmiths, steamboatmen, doctors, preachers, and school 
teachers made headquarters at Columbus. Nor was this all; 
assured of comfort and success, the young men of Columbus 
went to the country and married the farmer's daughters, or 
the young women who came with the families of the immigrant 
settlers. Homes were established, houses built, log cabins 
gave way to frame houses ; everything took on a lively growth 
and progress was the order of the day. Columbus was too 
salient a point not to receive her share of the best that came. 
In a few years her population doubled, and continued steadily 
to increase until the end of the decade. 

Among the men of mark and character who settled in 
Columbus in the twenties and who made Columbus their 
place of residence for life or a long period of years, the writer 
recalls Gideon, Garland, and Grant Lincecum, three brothers 
who had lived for years among the Choctaws, as traders or 
agents or interpreters, and settled in Columbus about 1820. 
Gideon Lincecum was the first postmaster in Columbus, and 
with this office and merchandise as a pursuit, he lived here 
for a number of years. He studied medicine, and in this 
profession his career was so unique and original, that mention 
thereof will be made in the chapter on professions. His 
father lived on a farm on the bank of the river near Champagne 
and Brandywine springs, four miles above Columbus. Gar- 
land Lincecum was a well remembered and strange historic 
character. In personal appearance he looked in every par- 
ticular like an Indian, except that he was white. His hair 
and eyes were as black as a raven's wing, and long black 
hairs grew from his prominent cheek bones, the rest of his 
face being bare. He generally wore the Indian dress in whole 
or in part. His leather hunting shirt, fringed, beaded and 
tasseled, and his leggings and moccasins were a marvel to the 



40 

Columbus boys. He was for many years the proprietor of 
the Columbus ferry and with his Choctaw assistants ferried 
over the missionaries, traders, and travelers going to Jackson, 
on the State road. His last home was on the bluff of the 
river occupied by the steam sawmill, owned by Mr. C. W. 
Mills and just above the cold spring that gushes so abundantly 
from the bluff below. But Garland Lincecum was too much 
of a pioneer to remain among the refinements and restraints 
of civilized life. He tired of steamboats and steam mills 
and church bells and perhaps of the hordes of Columbus boys 
who selected for their "wash-hole," the rocky shoal in the 
river opposite his home and from which his Indian warwhoop, 
nor horrid Choctaw oaths, nor threats of his old flint-lock 
rifle could drive away. For eighty years the boys' preemption 
has held good; the "wash-hole" is still an institution as well 
as a historic land mark of old Columbus. All this was too 
much for him and with his dog and gun, he went to the farthest 
frontier of Texas and died there. 

Major William Dowsing came to Columbus in 1822 from 
Georgia with his five older children and made it his home for 
life. He first built a hotel or tavern on the northwest comer 
of Main and Market Streets and continued in this business 
for many years, perhaps during the entire decade. As soon 
as Lowndes county was organized in 1830 and Columbus 
became the county seat, we find him entering public life. He 
was the first clerk of the circuit court and soon after became 
register in the goverment land office. This position he held 
for many years until his death. He built him a home on the 
Highlands, on the site now occupied by the residence of Judge 
Foote and also lived in the country, two miles from town, 
upon the farm now owned by Mr. Jacobs. Unlike any of 
the characters heretofore described, Major Dowsing was of 
unusually fine personal appearance. His face was formed 
in the finest artistic mould; his countenance was placid and 
sweet; his voice was soft and musical. When in advanced 
life, his white locks fell in beautiful ringlets on his shoulders, 
he was a picture of an aged bishop or saintly apostle. He 
was as pious and good as his features indicated. He was 
pre-eminently the father of Methodism in Columbus. He 
was among the first members; the first Sunday School super- 



41 

intendent, and the first class leader. His house was the home 
and resting place of the pioneer Methodist preachers. He 
had four sons and seven daughters. His daughters were 
distinguished for their personal beauty and elegance of man- 
ners. They all married prominent citizens of the town and 
state. His second daughter, Mary, married L. Chevis, Esq., 
a prominent lawyer of Columbus and afterwards of Grenada. 
Mrs. Early, wife of the late Dr. Early of Columbus, represents 
this branch of the Dowsing family. His daughter Caroline 
married B. G. Hendricks, of Columbus, parents of Mrs. Capt. 
Flood of this city. 

Rev. George Shaeffer, when a youth, sixteen years of 
age, came from Mobile to Columbus in 1822. Merchandise 
was his first pursuit in life and he served with success as a 
salesman with some of the earliest Columbus merchants. 
He afterwards became the partner of Chas. H. Abert and 
enjoyed a large and lucrative business at the corner opposite 
the Gilmer hotel still known as Abert's comer. After his 
marriage with Miss Clarissa Barry, he built him a story and 
a half log home on the fraction of the square now occupied 
by the Baptist church. This log house was afterwards used 
as the pastor's study of the Rev. John Armstrong, the first 
pastor of the Babtist church and, subsequently was well 
known as the school house of Miss Maria Morse. In 1832 he 
professed religion and joined the Methodist church. In 1834, 
he became a preacher of the gospel and joined the Alabama 
Conference, whose jurisdiction extended over that part of 
the state east of the Tombigbee River. As a circuit preacher 
and presiding elder, he preached in every Methodist church 
from Eutaw, Ala., to Cotton Gin Port, Miss., and was one of 
the most successful preachers and revivalists of his day. After 
he began preaching, he moved his family to a residence on 
the Highlands still known by his name. He was a man of 
good academic education and of distinguished piety; was a 
clear, thoughtful, and instructive preacher and acceptable 
and useful in any charge to which he was sent. He had four 
sons and three daughters. Two of his sons, George and 
Robert, became Methodist preachers. George died in Arkan- 
sas. Robert is still preaching in Missouri. Dr. Brett Shaeffer 
is a successful farmer in Texas, Chas A. Shaeffer is a merchant 



42 

in Missouri. His daughter Eliza married W. H. O'Neal, a 
prominent architect in Columbus. Mary married Hon. 
Stephen A. Brown, and her two preacher sons, R. O. Brown 
and S. A. Brown, members of the North Mississippi Conference, 
and her two daughters, Mrs. Mary Tate and Mrs. Fannie 
Beale, and her invalid son George, all claim Columbus as 
their home. The youngest daughter, Rebecca, married Mr. 
Wilbur Vaughn, son of George W. Vaughn, who at the time 
of his death a few years ago, was the oldest native inhabitant 
of Lowndes county. 

Rev. George Shaeffer is the historian of old Columbus. 
All the earliest historical records, from their similarity in 
diction and selection of facts and names of early citizens 
indicate their authorship in him. He was very fond of his 
pen, wrote numerous articles for the newspapers, secular and 
religious, and prepared an auto-biography, the manuscript 
of which has been misplaced or lost, an accident much to 
be deplored, as it necessarily contained a more detailed ac- 
count of Columbus and Lowndes county than any we now 
have. 

Capt. Chas. H. Abert was a prominent citizen of Columbus 
from the date of his immigration in 1826, until his death. He 
brought to Mississippi a stock of goods from Baltimore, and 
opened them in old Hamilton, tiie county seat of Monroe, 
then a village of five or six hundred inhabitants. He sold 
out this stock of goods and moved to Columbus, where he 
resumed his business as a merchant and continued in this 
occupation in some form during his entire life. One of the 
old day books made by the firm of Abert & Snaeffer in 1832, 
still exists and by it a number of dates in these chapters have 
been verified. During the latter part of his life he was a 
prominent commission merchant, with winter quarters in 
Mobile, Alabama. He was the first captain of the Columbus 
Riflemen, organized in 1837 and continued in that office 
until 18G1. Capt. Abert was distinguished for his soldierly 
bearing, polite manners, and in every way exhibited the 
characteristics of a Virginia gentleman. His early and only 
residence in Columbus was opposite the Gilmer hotel, and he 
built and occupied for many years the store-house on the 
comer. He became master of Columbus Lodge No. 5, held 



43 

that office for many years and was regarded as one of the 
brightest masons in Columbus. He had several sons and 
daughters, only one of whom still lives. His oldest son, Col. 
George W. Abert, may be seen daily on our streets, a prominent 
cotton buyer and the oldest native living inhabitant of Colum- 
bus. Col. Abert was colonel of the 14th Mississippi regiment 
during the Civil war. 

Rev. David Wright was for several years connected 
with the Mayhew mission to the Choctaws. During this 
period, his only daughter, Mrs. Laura Wright Eager, 'was 
born. He resigned his position as missionary, and came to 
Columbus in 1826, where he was engaged as a teacher and 
pastor. He was principal of the Franklin Academy in 1832. 
He established the Columbus Female Seminary in the old 
brick masonic hall in 1833, and was for several years its prin- 
cipal, assisted by Misses Axcell and Bray in which school 
very many of the early Columbus girls received in whole or 
in part their education. He was the pastor of the first organ- 
ized Presbyterian church in 1832, which held its services in 
the masonic hall, and continued as such until the first church 
building was erected by that denomination in 1837. His 
second wife was the widow of Dr. B. C. Barry and sister of 
Capt. Charles H. Abert. By this marriage he had an only 
son, Capt. William Wright who married the daughter of Prof. 
Henry Tutwiler of Alabama. He was a distinguished edu- 
cator in several of the Southern states. Mrs. Laura Wright 
Eager is well known in Columbus as one of the most successful 
and universally beloved teachers, who has ever resided in 
this city. She was educated in the celebrated Mount Holyoke 
Seminary in Massachusetts and prepared herself for the pro- 
fession of teaching. After graduation she returned to her 
Southern home and was employed as a teacher in Macon, Miss., 
and in Columbus. She was a teacher in the Columbus Female 
Institute, was principal of a large private school of her own 
establishment, and closed her career with twenty or more 
years service as female principal of the Franklin Academy. 
As a tribute to her marked ability and affectionate memory^ 



44 

a marble tablet with appropriate inscription, has been affixed 
in a prominent place in that nstitution. 

Mrs. Lizzie Eager Harris, wife of Gid D. Harris repre- 
sents the family of the Reverend David Wright in this c.ty 
at this, the beginning of the twentieth century. 





2 m 

•X 






45 



CHAPTER VI. 

LAST YEARS IN OLD MONROE— FAREWELL TO THE LOG 

CABINS. 

Among the prominent citizens who crowded into the 
little town of Columbu s during the last years of its first decade 
were Hardy Stevens, W. H. Craven, T. M. Tucker, J. F. Trot- 
ter, B. L. Hatch, Dr. John Hand, J. J. Humphries, George 
Goode, and Joseph Bryant. 

Hardy Stevens, after several changes, settled at the 
place, known for so many years as his family home, on the 
south end of Market Street. He was a man distinguished 
for his industrious habits, spotless honor, and unimpeachable 
integrity. If a good name is an inheritance to children his 
sons received a large fortune from their father. He was 
universally popular and received municipal and county 
tributes to the value of his judgment and services. As 
president of the board of supervisors, his watchfulness kept 
the county funds well supervised and although hundreds 
of thousands of dollars passed through his hands not a single 
dollar was misplaced or unaccounted for. During his term 
of office, the present iron bridge over the river was built. 
Three sons survive him, Joseph H. Stevens, who served half 
a life time in official position at the court house, and served 
for years with the Columbus Riflemen in peace and amid the 
shot and shell of the Civil War, the skirmishes of which far 
exceeded in danger and results the big battles in South Africa 
and the Philippines. He is now a successful merchant on 
Main Street, a Mason, a Christian, and a gentleman. 

Jas. A. Stevens was a journalist of state reputation as 
editor and proprietor of The Columbus hidex, and he still 
follows his chosen calling in Burnett, Texas. 

John Stevens, of West Point, keeps up the family good 
name, and has had lucrative official positions in the court 
house and in the counting rooms of that city. 

Maj. W. H. Craven, a name reserved for special mention 
as a citizen of Columbus, he having previously settled a farm 
in the countrv six miles below town. One historian claims 



46 

that he settled the first farm and brought the first cotton gin 
to the county (Gibbs). He sold his farm to Capt. Kit Adams, 
a citizen of Columbus and thus exchanged places with him. 
His name was a household word in the early days of the town 
and county and he was the true and trusted friend of all the 
noble pioneers heretofore mentioned in these chapters. He 
settled the Craven homestead now occupied by Mrs. Estes. 
He married Mrs. Hampton with Henry Hampton, Esq., as 
his stepson, who afterward married Miss Martha Dowsing 
and moved to another part of the State. His only son and 
namesake W. H. Craven, Jr., was educated at Yale College 
with Col. W. S. Barry and died soon after his return home. 
His only daughter married Hon. Henry Dickinson, one of 
the earliest members of the Columbus bar and who reached 
the high position of state chancellor. Judge Dickinson's 
second wife was Miss McGavock, of Nashville, Tenn., and 
with him she occupied for years the Craven home. His wife 
was a woman of the finest social and literary culture and her 
parlors and drawing room were often the scene of the highest 
types of social functions and domestic life. The Hon. Jacob 
McGavock Dickinson, a distinguished lawyer, of Nashville, 
Tenn., and attorney in chief of the great Illinois Central rail- 
road plant, their son was born in Columbus, and in a recent 
visit greatly enjoyed a ramble among the haunts of his boy- 
hood and re-association with his old friends and playmates. 
[Hon. J. McG. Dickinson was made Secretary of War in 
President Taft's Cabinet, March, 1909.] 

J. J. Humphries did not, like many of the early pioneers 
come to Mississippi alone, but with a brave heart and abound- 
ing hope, brought with him his large family of six sons and 
two daughters, and selected Columbus as his family home 
and the scene of his earliest labor. For about seventy-five 
years the name of Humphries has been connected with the 
industrial, social, commercial, and political life of Columbus. 
Mr. J.J. Humphries first settled in a double log cabin, situated 
on the comer of Main and Market Streets, near the end and 
rear of the great store erected in part by his son and grand-son, 
and now known as the store of W. C. Beard. He afterwards 
removed and built his home on the site of the residence of 
his grand-daughter, Mrs. Mollie Tucker. He lived to a good 



47 

old age and died with the consciousness that he had never 
spent an idle day or eaten an ounce of unearned bread. 

The oldest son, Dr. W. W. Humphries, received a col- 
legiate education and prepared himself for a doctor of medi- 
cine, but chafing under the close confinement and slow pe- 
cuniary profits of his profession, he abandoned it for the field 
of commerce and trade; and soon, by his operations in land 
and bank stocks, accumulated a handsome fortune. He 
suffered seriously from the failure of the Real Estate Bank 
in Columbus, but in time recovered his losses, and but for 
the devastating sweep of the Confederate war, would have 
closed his life a man of large fortune. His son, Capt. W. W. 
Humphries, represents his father's intellect and energy; and 
in the army, at the bar, on the forum and legislative floor 
wherever, his native town and state has needed a man to 
defend their honor and advance their interest, he has been 
ever ready to expend his money, time and talents in their 
behalf. 

Mr. Abram S. Humphries was by nature and choice a 
merchant and a financier and knew by intuition the theory 
and art of "making one dollar make another." He passed 
through all the changes of clerk, country merchant, wholesale 
dealer in town and in city and demonstrated in counting 
rooms and in banks that nature made no mistake in fitting 
him for a man of affairs. He was a partner in that great 
mercantile firm of Cozart, Humphries & Billups in Columbus 
and Humphries, Walsh & Co., in Mobile, Ala. He was a 
charter member of the Columbus Insurance & Banking Co. 
and a director of the Mobile & Ohio railroad. But for the 
Confederate war he would have been one of the wealthiest 
citizens of north Mississippi. Like his brother, with a prudent 
forethought and wisdom, he felt that there would come a 
time when the whirl of progress and activities of trade would 
be too much for his declining years, so he invested largely 
in prairie lands and negroes, feeling that in them was the 
surest safety and the most enduring comfort. A rich Mis- 
sissippi plantation was the dream and objective point in the 
ambition of Mississippi's industrious and enterprising citizens. 

Col. W. D. Humphries is the oldest son of Mr. Abram 
S. Hiimphries and he reveres the character and memory of 



48 

his father and grand-father with almost idolatrous devotion. 
Facts, incidents, and places in the history of his native town 
form many bright pages in his life book. He loves Columbus 
with a true heart, fervently. No wonder the cares, anxieties, 
and labors of the past four years spent as its chief magistrate 
were to him years of pleasant duty and great success. As 
mayor of the city, he supervised the establishment of a com- 
plete water and sewerage system, equal to any in any Southern 
town, and leaves it altogether an up-to-date 20th century 
municipality. Merchandise was for a time his occupation, 
but he soon changed measures of cloth for acres of land and 
became a prairie planter on a large scale. He can tell all 
the possibilities and impossibilities of free negro labor, and 
is a well educated experienced patron of husbandry. When 
he dies Columbus will lose one of her most valuable and oldest 
native citizens. Jefferson Humphries was the youngest son 
of J. J. Humphries. His name is written here with all the 
sentiment and sacred memory which a boy feels for his first 
school teacher. In 1835, Mr. Abram Maer was principal 
and Jefferson Humphries assistant in the old Franklin Acad- 
emy, and here this writer learned to read, spell, and write. 
The obituary of Jefferson Humphries is before us and all its 
high tributes of praise of his mind and character accord with 
our boyish memory. He was a scholar and a gentleman, and at 
twenty-three years of age died in all the triumphs of the Chris- 
tian faith. With joy and thanksgiving we close these tri- 
butes to the old pioneers of Columbus, with the blood stained 
banner of Jesus Christ waving in triumph over them. 

FAREWELL TO THE LOG CABINS. 

Up to 1830 more than one-half of all the houses built 
in Columbus were made of logs. Log houses have always 
been the attendant of pioneer and rural life. But a town 
twelve years old with six or seven hundred inhabitants, half 
of them living in log houses, is an anomaly in civilization. 
The reason was obvious. The supply of carpenter's tools 
and saw mills was extremely scant, while the material for 
logs was abundant and near at hand. Great brakes of tall 
straight cypress trees came well up into the outskirts of the 
town. The country abounded in majestic pines and wide 




HO.X. J. MCG DICKI-NSOX. 



48 



49 

spreading oaks. The whipsaw in the hands of strong men 
and the broad axe could soon convert these straight cypress 
into well hewed square logs, very suitable for the erection 
of a convenient house. These hewed log houses were either 
single or double, one and a half stories high, thus doubling 
their room capacity with piazza running the length of the 
whole house in front. When the writer of these chapters 
arrived with his parents in Columbus, February, 1832, one 
of these single log houses was his first home, located on the 
corner of Main and Caledonia Streets where the Dashiell 
residence now stands. Just across the street on the right 
W. L. Clarke lived in a double log house. On the left, where 
the Methodist church now stands, was the log residence of 
Robert D. Haden. Directly in front, across Main Street 
where Dr. Brownrigg lives, Mr. Bevill occupied a single log 
house. Going to the old brick Methodist church east of Con- 
cert Hall, you pass on Mr. W. Burt's comer the double log house 
of W. P. Puller. Opposite this house, on the Baptist church 
square, was a single log house, the home of George Shaeffer, of 
the firm of Abert and Shaeffer. In easy sight was the single 
log house of Alexander Gray and the double log house of 
Henry Clifton, which a few years afterward was the home of 
Mrs. Ann Campbell Franklin, still living and able to prepare 
a well written and accurate history of the Baptist church. 
Log houses occupied most of the fine building sites in 
the limits of the little village. But the edict was issued that 
the broad axe and the whipsaw and their accompaniment, 
the flint rock rifle, must go. Economy, style, and fashion 
demanded it, and no log house was built in Columbus after 
1830, except the county jail, built of heavy cypress logs with 
log floors and log ceiling, small windows and doors protected 
by iron grating. This jail was located on the northwest 
corner of the present court house lot. When the descendants 
of these pioneers wish to know the origin of the adages, "Hew 
to the line," "Pick your flint," "A flash in the pan," the log 
cabin era of Columbus can furnish an answer. Farewell to 
the log houses of old Columbus; homes that were never full, 
tables that were never empty; houses which fathers and 
mothers and friends with overflowing love made happy homes 
for old Columbus boys. 4 



50 



CHAPTER VII. 

FACTS AND INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF 

LOWNDES COUNTY NOT HERETOFORE 

MENTIONED. 

This chapter is largely made up of facts and incidents 
taken from a contribution to The Columbus Index (1S78), 
by Col. W. E. Gibbs, an old citizen of Columbus, well quali- 
fied to furnish information and make a correct statement of 
the facts. His record is as worthy of credence as any hereto- 
fore examined. The only copy of his contribution is in a 
scrap book prepared by Miss Lizzie Blair, one of our oldest 
and most highly esteemed lady citizens, and to her we are 
thankfully indebted for the use of her scrap book. These 
extracts will relate especially to the county and are published 
for the benefit of our country citizens. The first settler in 
Lowndes county is reported to have been a man named Mhoon, 
who settled five miles above Columbus on the Militaiy road. 
He and his family were returning from New Orleans with 
Jackson's troops when his son was taken sick with the measles 
and could go no farther. The family stopped and after a 
long time the boy recovered. The family concluded to re- 
main, and made a crop, and being much pleased settled per- 
manently. Silas McBee, an old citizen of 1817 stated that 
he bought his first seed com from Mhoon. 

The first horse mill in the county was owned by Joseph 
Perkins, who settled the old Thos. H. Woods place. Cus- 
tomers came fifty miles to his mill for meal. 

Judge Thos. O. Sampson paid Cooper and Wheat six 
dollars per acre for his home place. Titus Howard settled 
on the place now known as the Oaks in 1821, and from him 
Howard's creek took its name. He sold the place to Judge 
Perkins. 

Capt. William Neilson settled Belmont in 1822. Capt. 
E. B. Randolph settled the Goshen place in 1825. Between 
the section of the country on which these settlements are 
located and Columbus, was a broken and howling wilderness, 
infested with great numbers of wolves, from which the wolf 




W . E. f. 1 B B S . 



51 

road took its name. Capt. William Neilson assisted in opening 
the Wolf road. The public road from Old Hamilton, the 
county seat of Monroe county, to Columbus, crossed the 
Buttahatchie at Ringo's ferry, thence by Goshen and Belmont 
and out by the Oaks to the Military road and on to Columbus, 
a distance of twenty miles, now accomplished in about four- 
teen. Robert Shotwell settled the Dr. Furness place owned 
subsequently by George W. Vaughn. This house was the 
the only frame house from Hamilton to Columbus. 

Old Mr. Jimmy Vaughn, grandfather of G. W. Vaughn, 
settled the place near Vaughn church, where David John 
Ussery now lives. His son, John Vaughn, settled the Alf 
Perkins place. He owned the first water mill in that sec- 
tion of the county. It was located on Cooper's creek, near 
the residence of Dr. R. K. Lee. George McCown settled the 
place now known as the Robert Harris place in 1820, and his 
son, John McCown, settled the Thos. Kidd place, now owned 
by W. A. Harris. 

Robert Hawkins put up the first mill on Yellow Creek, 
known as Kidd's mill. He settled the Wiggins place on the 
Seed-tick road and then moved to the Bob Swanzy place. 
Ira L. Wheat settled and made some improvements on Glory 
Hill above Judge Sampson's place, and sold it to Abram 
Groves, father of R. M. Groves, for a pony. 

Uncle Tommy Smith, oldest man in the county (1878) 
settled the place on which he now lives. Cooper, father-in- 
law of Tommy Smith, settled the State line place. 

The land on which the village of Caledonia is situated 
was entered by Uncle Billy Gallagher, and afterwards settled 
on and improved by Captain Robert Dowdle. The first 
store in Caledonia was kept by George Fry, who afterwards 
became the senior member of the firm of Fry, Bliss, & Com- 
pany, of Mobile, Ala. It was Mr. Fry who brought to Cale- 
donia the seed of the famous Rodden apple. Robert Dowdle, 
W. G. Wright, and Thomas Wiggins established the Caledonia 
bank, a bank of issue. Mr. Warren Gardner, our present 
county treasurer (1901) has in his possession one of the notes 
of this bank. 

El Bethel, primitive Baptist church was the first church 
built in this section. It was organized by Rev. Henry Petty 



52 

and others in 1823. Unity church (Presbyterian) was built 
of hewn logs in 1828, where the present building now stands, 
by a man named Furr, who was paid by neighborhood con- 
tributors. 

Andrew Egger, St., settled the place now occupied by 
Billy Egger. Giles McElroy, a famous bear hunter, grand- 
father of J. W. McElroy, of Columbus, settled the place now 
owned by Mrs. M. E. Kennon. In those days bears were as 
abundant in Buttahatchie bottoms as hogs are now. The 
whole bottom was a vast cane brake. The citizens were 
forced to keep their calves and pigs confined in pens near 
their dwellings and with that precaution could raise but few. 
Mr. McElroy kept a pack of savage cur dogs and the dog 
that failed to wade in when Bruin was brought to bay 
never saw home again. But if he fought, his master, who was 
a powerful man, dispatched the bear with his knife and carried 
his wounded dog in his arms. 

In 1820, John Egger, known as "Shot-gun John," settled 
the place that Aunt Sa villa Egger now lives on. "Shot-gun 
John" held crab grass in about the same favor the people of 
the present do cocoa, or nut grass. It is said of him that 
he was accustomed to pick the grass seed from the teeth of 
his horse and to wash his horses feet upon reaching home 
when he had reason to believe he had fed on it or had been 
where it existed. W. E. Egger, Sr., father of Uncle Billy 
Egger, who died a short time since, settled the place that 
Dexter Andy Egger now lives on. 

Dan Scale sold his place to L. M. Hatch (of Columbus) 
and there Marcellus W. Hatch, of Hatch's corner, was bom. 

Sandy Mayo, father to Dr. Thomas Mayo, of Columbus, 
settled on the Wolf road, at present the residence of Dr. Tho- 
mas. He bought and improved the George Givins Mill, the 
first mill on Buttahatchie. 

Jacob Swofford settled the Witt place now owned and 
occupied by Henry Barrentine. It is said John Swofford 
introduced crab grass into the country, having brought the 
seed from Tennessee. William G. Wright, Robert Murphey, 
and his son-in-law, Andy Dowdle, built the first mill where 
Shedd and Nichols' mill now stands. 



53 

"Old Granny" Roden, her son James, and two daughters 
were probably the first settlers in the Caledonia neighborhood. 
They settled the old place adjoining the farm of "Aunt Becky" 
Egger. "Granny" Roden invariably wore a man's shirt and 
hat, and was held in awe by all the youngsters of her day. 
A threat to hand them over to "Granny" Roden never failed 
to receive obedience. 

Mrs. Gaston, the mother of Elihu Scott, J. N. and J. T. 
Gaston, settled the place owned by James Conn. 

In 1818, David Alsop settled the place on which Andrew 
Stephenson lives. John Stephenson, the father of Robert, 
Abe, and Dan Stephenson, settled the place on which their 
mother now lives. 

Uncle Billy Verner in 1817 settled the place on which 
Ed Hutchinson now lives. James Sullivan, brother-in-law 
of Maj. Richard Barry, settled the Shields farm. 

Nearly all the Caledonia neighborhood described was 
pre-empted by the settlers named prior to the land sales at 
Tuscaloosa, whereby several were entered out. 

The following facts will interest the citizens of the eastern 
part of the county: Silas McBee, who settled the farm at 
the mouth of McBee creek in 1817, was the father-in-law 
of Thomas Sampson, Bartlett Sims, Thos. H. Williams and 
Tilghman M. Tucker. 

The upper Tuscaloosa road was opened in 1822. 

Conrad Hackleman settled the Barksdale, or Mills place, 
hence the name of the slough running by it, Hackleman 
slough. Thomas Cooper, father of Cincinatus Cooper, settled 
the Dr. Ervin place. 

About 1826 or 1827, a large number of immigrants moved 
into the section between the Luxapalila and Yellow creeks. 
They were generally Methodists, and in 1828 organized the 
first Methodist church in Lowndes county known as Piney 
Grove church. Tabernacle (Methodist) church, situated 
near by on the Alabama line, was also organized in 1828, 
and made this section the stronghold of Methodism in the 
early history of the county. These two church buildings 
and societies antedated the Columbus Methodist Church about 
four years. The following local preachers assisted in the 
organization of Piney Grove church; Revs. John Booth, 



54 

(afterwards a dentist in Columbus,) Reuben and Elijah San- 
ders, Roddy Smith, Stephen McReynolds. William Belk, 
Felix Wood and Stephen Tunnell. The charter members 
were Revs. Reuben and Elijah Sanders, Absalom Sims, Mr. 
Brewton, Washington Gray, Roddy Smith and his son-in-law, 
Rev. Martin Sims, "Uncle Martin," and their families. Rev. 
Mr. Gray was Capt. Flood's uncle. His mother, Jane Flood, 
and her sister, Victoria Gray, were also charter members. 

In 1832, Rev. Felix Wood brought with him into this 
section a large number of immigiants, among whom were 
the Tunnells, Belks, Dukes, Fosters, Harrells, Boswells, Mitch- 
ells, Sparks, Wrights, Tennysons, Lusks, Stidhams, Arnolds, 
Lyons, McGowans, Fords, Skinners, and Youngs, and 1834 
and 35 came the Bucks, Philips, Lesters, Harringtons, and 
Aaron C. Bangs. 

Friendship Church and camp ground and Pleasant Grove 
(Vaughn's Church) and camp ground were organized about 
1838, and were the outgrowths of the Piney Grove church. 
At Vaughn's camp ground, Judge Thomas A. Sampson, Capt. 
Wm. Neilson, and Capt. E. B. Randolph were converted 
and joined the Methodist church at that place. Capt. Wm. 
Neilson was buried at Vaughn's burying ground. 

THE FOLLOWING FACTS ARE FOR THE SOUTHERN 
PORTION OF THE COUNTY. 

John Mullen, father of John M. and Perry, settled the 
Townsend or Early Hendricks place. James Boswell, father 
of Ira M. Boswell, about 182f), settled the place adjoining. 
A man named McCrory settled near the Blue Springs near the 
mouth of the creak that bears his name. Samuel WilUesford 



Capt. Neilson and Capt. Randolph were old army men between 
whom a warm friendship existed. Early one morning it was reported 
to Capt. Neilson that some of his cattle were missing. Without waiting 
to get on his coat and hat he hastened to the cattle pen where he saw 
indications of Indian depredations. Following the trail for some miles 
into the deep woods his attention was arrested by voices singing. 
Drawing nearer he came upon a board shelter where the Rev. George 
Shaeflfer was earnestly exhorting sinners to repentence. Seeing Capt. 
Randolph respond to the invitation for prayers, Capt. Neilson, with- 
out a moments hesitation, followed his friend and as he gave his hand 
to the preacher he said: "What's good for Ned Randolph is good for 
me" — a beautiful example this of true friendship. — Editor. 




RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM BALDWIN, ESQ. 



55 

father of Lawson, settled a farm and kept a ferry across the 
Luxappalila just above the Ben Taylor fish trap. Gustavus 
Hendricks, father of Early Hendricks, settled in the same neigh- 
borhood and was murdered by two of his slaves, George and 
Squire, who were hanged near Columbus on the Pickensville 
road. These were the first public executions in Lowndes county. 
Samuel Little and Cornelius Snider settled near the Lott Laws 
or Stallings place and built the old mill which stood beyond the 
Huddleston Ford. The Spruills settled near Concord Meiho- 
dist church, and afterwards moved to Pickens county, Ala., 
on McBee creek near Tabernacle church. A man named 
Young, a blacksmith, settled Nashville and the bluff was 
then called by his name. This bluff became quite an import- 
ant shipping and trading point. Some northern merchants 
settled there and brought out larger stocks of goods than 
any that were in Columbus, and Nashville was looked upon 
as a prospective rival, but very high and frequent overflows 
caused its abandonment. A ferry is still continued in that 
place. 

The ridge between the Nashville and Pickensville roads 
on which many of the earliest farms were located, was called 
the "Mulatto ridge" from the color of the soil. Abner Nash 
settled the Dr. Craddock place. 

John McClanahan, grand-father of W. D. Humphries, 
settled the Eubanks place near Choctaw Springs. 

James Brownlee settled on the big hill north of Ellis 
Creek, on the Pickensville road, and his son, John Brownlee, 
the place now owned by R. B. Ellis. Micajah Brooks, father 
of Madison, Matthew, Thomas, and Mrs. Charles Baskerville 
settled the Sparks place. 

Prior to 1837, on the Tuscaloosa road, at the place where 
B'.ewett's bridge was built, a ferry was established by Tapley 
Oldham and Kincaid, which was the principal crossing over 
the Luxapalila. The Old Zion church was organized in 1823 
and held its first meetings in the Zion school house, taught 
by William Nash. The membership afterwards built a church, 
which became a center of Baptist influence and had a member- 
ship which occupied the adjoining territory in Lowndes and 
Pickens counties. In 1825, their membership amounted to 
300 or 400. 



56 

Revs. Henry Petty and William Cook were the first 
presbyters or pastors. The Rev. Henry Petty was a man 
of strong character and great ability. He was the leading 
spirit of the Baptist churches in this part of the State. He 
was the grandfather of Mrs. Moses B. Smith and great grand- 
father of Mrs. James Irion and Mrs. Nellie Blair. The original 
records of this church are still extant and from them these 
data were taken. 

The Concord Methodist church at a later date was organ- 
ized by the Seals, Jordans, and others. The Seal camp ground 
held its first meeting in 1840. 




57 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1830— LOWNDES COUNTY ORGANIZED— COLUMBUS THE 
THE COUNTY SITE— EARLY FACTS— LAND SALES. 

In January 1830, Lowndes county was organized out 
of the southern portion of Monroe county, south of the Butta- 
hatchie and east of the Tombigbee rivers. The following 
citizens were appointed commissioners to select a county 
site: Samuel Lauderdale, William H. Craven, Chas. H. Abert, 
George Goode, Titus Howard, Edward B. Randolph, and 
Henry Greer, Sr. This same act provided that the courts 
of the county should be held in Columbus until a court house 
should be erected. Without any recorded opposition, Colum- 
bus was chosen as the county site. 

In October, 1831, a commission elected to locate the 
public buildings of the county at the county site, was com- 
posed of the following oersons: Thomas Sampson, Richard 
Barry, Samuel D. Lauderdale, John Mullen and William W. 
Neilson, who contracted with Robert D. Haden, president, 
and George Shaeflfer, secretary of the board of selectmen 
of the town of Columbus for lots 1 and 2, square No. 8 north 
of Main Street for a site for the court house, jail, etc. This 
square had been reserved in the original survey as a public 
square. The conditions of the contract was that the ground 
should be free from all rent or lease as long as the county 
used it for the specified purposes. The original deed or con- 
veyance is still in existence and is the property of Hon. James 
C. Neilson, son of William W. Neilson, one of the commis- 
sioners. 

The first court house was built in 1832, by a county tax 
and a subscription by the citizens of Columbus, as the town 
was not subject to a tax of any kind. This latter fact appears 
in the books of Abert and ShaefTer, merchants of Columbus 
in 1832, in which an entry occurs, paying a subscription of 
$25 each for building the court house. This book is still 
extant and is a good guide to the names of citizens and other 
facts in the history of Columbus at that time. The book 

5 



58 

is the property of Col. George W. Abert, son of Charles H. 
Abert, member of the firm of Abert and Shaeffer. 

The first officers in Lowndes county were: Nimrod Davis, 
sheriflf; William Dowsing, circuit clerk; Robert D. Haden, 
probate clerk; Thomas O. Sampson, probate judge; Isaac 
R. Nicholson, circuit judge. The first probate court was 
held in February, 1830, in the house of Joseph Bryan, on the 
southwest corner of Main and Franklin Streets. The first 
circuit court was held the second Monday in May 1830, in 
a store house where the Columbus Clothing store now stands, 
1901. The lawyers in attendance at this court were: Stephen 
Cocke, J. F. Trotter and T. M. Tucker. The records of the 
circuit court of Lowndes county are in a good state of preser- 
vation from 1830 to the present time. The records of the 
chancery court are also in a good state of preservation. Deed 
book, No. 1 is a transcript of books 1, 2, 3, and 15, from 1832 
to 1857. Original land entries are in book No. 12, pages 
1 to 96. Deeds transferred from Monroe county to Lowndes 
county records are in a special book for that purpose. All 
these books have been indexed and an abstract of title can 
be easily obtained from the present time back to the original 
patent or sale. The writer of these chapters is indebted 
to Messrs. Cooper and Moore for much courtesy and assistance. 

The first court house was located on the southwest comer 
of the present court house square. It was a plain two-story 
brick building about forty by sixty feet in dimensions. The 
lower story was occupied as a court room, the east half, being 
used for court purposes, while the west half was entirely 
empty, except a stairway to the offices above. The entrances 
were by central doors on the north, south and west. In 
1847, the present spacious, commodious, and remarkably 
well built structure superseded the old building. It was 
erected by James S. Lull, architect. 

After 1830, the town of Columbus increased very rapidly 
in population, and buildings of every kind. Hotels and board- 



Dr. Franklin was bom in the city of New York, where, after 
graduating from Yale College, and subsequently getting the degree 
of M. D., he practiced his profession for a number of years. Failing 
health led him to come South. In 1S.'3.') he settled in Columbus, 
where he established a successful mercantile business, occupynng a 
part of the site on which the First State Bank now stands. — Editor. 




I)K. SIIINEV b. 1-KANK1.I.\. 

(1806-1886.) 



59 

ing houses, stores of all kinds of merchandise, and shops for 
mechanics and artisans were huriedly and rapidly erected. 
Public attention, especially in the states of Tennessee, Vir- 
ginia, North and South Carolina was attracted to Columbus 
on account of its location immediately on the border of the 
great Choctaw nation which had just been purchased by the 
United States from all the Indians by a treaty in the fall of 
1830 at Dancing Rabbit creek. The general government 
had commenced a survey of these lands and was prosecuting 
it with all possible rapidity. That part of the Choctaw nation 
immediately west of Columbus was composed of large and 
very fertile prairie lands and especially adapted to the growth 
of cotton, which had become the leading staple of Southern 
production. As soon as the survey was concluded, all the 
Choctaw purchase was organized into counties by legislative 
enactment, at which time the boundaries of Lowndes county 
were very materially enlarged. Beginning at the mouth 
of Buttahatchie creek, the northern boundary was extended 
west, to the northeast corner of Oktibbeha county, thence 
south along its eastern boundary to the northwest comer of 
Noxubee county, thence east to the Noxubee line to the Tom- 
bigbee River, thus doubling its former area. The establish- 
ment of the land office for the sale of the lands in the Choctaw 
purchase, at Columbus, greatly increased its importance and 
made it a center of attraction to land speculators and those 
wish ng to make settlements thereon. 

These land sales being most important events it is deemed 
proper to compile, for historical use, a description of these 
sales and the circumstances attending them. As soon as 
the survey was made and the records satisfactorily deposited 
in the offices of the government, the president of the United 
States issued his proclamation appointing the time and place 
for the land sales. The land sales were to continue for a 
period of two weeks. The number of townships and sections 
to be sold were specified definitely in the proclamation of 
the president, and the sale was limited to parcels of 1-4 of 
a section or 160 acres at each offer. They were offered by 
an auctioneer at public outcry to the highest bidder, a speci- 
fied amount being named as the lowest bid to be received. 
In case of the Choctaws this amount was $2.00 per acre. The 



60 

sales of Choctaw lands occurred in Columbus, Miss., in 1834-6 
and were continued for two weeks at each special sale, and 
repeated from time to time as the president's proclamation 
directed. It is charged that great frauds were committed 
by purchasers or bidders combining not to bid against each 
other, although these frauds were forbidden by law under 
heavy penalties. Messrs. Buckner, Harris, and Boyd were 
respectively the first registers and receivers. Nimrod Davis 
of Columbus, former sheriff, was the auctioneer. 

These sales were unsatisfactory — both to the government 
and the purchaser, or tnose wishing to purchase, on account 
of the short time allowed for examination and selection be- 
tween the survey and the sales. Great advantage was given 
to land speculators and those having large sums of money, 
in obtaining information from traders and Indian agents 
in the location of the best lands. Another drawback was the 
reluctance on the part of the Choctaw Indians to leave tneir 
lands, many of them pretending to remain for the purpose 
of availing themselves of the homestead offer to the Dancing 
Rabbit treaty. It is also charged that the United States 
commissioners were intentionally or negligently remiss in 
furnishing the Indians opportunities for locating their reser- 
vations. The Chicksaw land sales occurred at Pontotoc, 
Miss., beginning January 1st, 1836. Important differences 
existed between the terms of purchase of the Chickasaw and 
Choctaw lands by the general government. The Choctaw 
lands were purchased by the government for a stipulated 
amount of money payable in annual installments, and very 
large reservations of lands allowed to their chiefs and families, 
as well as a given reservation of land to each Choctaw Indian 
who desired to remain and become an American citizen. 

The Chickasaw lands were sold for the Chickasaw tribes, 
the expenses of survey and sale by the United States to be 
deducted therefrom. 

The influx of land speculators and persons desiring to 
examine and purchase these lands began to flow into Columbus 
many months before the land sales. The hotels and boarding- 
houses were crowded to the utmost limit of their accommo- 
dation. Rooms and bedsteads were almost unattainable. 
A place to eat and room enough on the floor to sleep were the 



61 



best that could be obtained. The houses of most of the citi- 
zens were converted into boarding houses, and many com- 
panies of friends brought with them their own tents and pro- 
visions. 




62 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS — THE PYTCHLYNS — 

EARLY SETTLERS IN LOWNDES COUNTY WEST 

OF THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER. 

The treaty with the United States government required 
the Choctaw Indians to move one fourth of their number 
during the fall of 1831; one fourth during the fall of 1832 
and the balance during 1833. Those who lived within the 
limits of Lowndes county moved in 1832. The late Mr. 
James Pro well Sr., then a youth of about eighteen years of 
age, accompanied tnis detachment as far as Memphis, Tenn., 
having charge of his father's wagons which were engaged in 
their removal. The cholera was epidemic in Memphis at 
that time and hastened his return home. Among the Indians 
who remained in Lowndes county, accepting the reservation 
of land allowed them by the terms of this treaty, were the 
noted family of Pytchlyns. John Pylchlyn Sr., was an En- 
glishman by birth and began to live among the Choctaws 
Indians soon after the Revolutionary war. He was for forty 
years before the Dancing Rabbit treaty, (1830) an interpreter 
for the United States government. He resided on the west 
side of the Robinson road about four and a half miles from 
Columbus, Miss., on the plantation owned by Maj. Richard 
T. Brownrigg, father of Dr. John Brownrigg and Mrs. Wad- 
dell, of this city. Major Brownrigg lived in the house built 
and occupied by Maj. Jack Pytchlyn, as he was familiarly 
called; it was a large house of twelve or fourteen rooms, very 

GENERAL RICHARD THOMAS BROWNRIGG. 

General Brownrigg emmigrated from North Carolina in 1836 
from near Edenton and Albermarle Sound. When he arrived in 
Mississippi with his family he went to the home he had bought the 
year before, on the Robertson Road, five miles from Columbus. This 
house, of twelve rooms, had been built by Jack Pytchland, Chief of 
the Choctaw Indians. The Indian burying ground was on an elevation 
and had been reserved in the sale of the large plantation, but General 
Brownrigg kept it in good order as long as he lived. After living on 
this plantation for three years, he moved to Columbus, where he built 
a large house. He was prominent in his church, the Episcopal, and 
was a most enthusiastic Whig. He was respected and loved by all 
who knew him and a noted infidel once said of him, "his life is the best 




GEN. R. T BROWNRIGG. 



02 



63 

comfortable, and commanded a fine view of the Robinson 
road, and the prairies in front and south. The Pytchlyn 
burial ground was situated within the home enclosure, pro- 
tected by a picket fence, and was kept in repair by Maj. Brown- 
rigg until he moved to Columbus in 1839. The plantation 
is now owned by Mr. Robert Williams. The residence is 
all gone and only a few elm trees mark the grave yard. The 
reservation of land, about 6000 acres, owned by the Pytchlyn 
family, extended from the M. and O. branch railroad, crossing 
on both sides of the Robinson road, as far as the present store 
of Col. W. D. Humphries. The Pytchlyn family sold all 
their land to white settlers prior to 1836. 

Maj. Jack Pytchlyn had four sons and several daughters. 
He had two sons by his first wife, (a half breed Choctaw) 
Peter and Jack, and two by his last, Silas and Thomas. His 
second wife was a widow with grown sons. Peter Pytchlyn 
lived on the plantation afterward called Longwood, the resi- 
dence of Hon. Joseph B. Cobb, near Cobb Switch, (the resi- 
dence of Hon. John W. L. Smith). 

Jack Pytchlyn lived at the family homestead, and in an 
altercation at the breakfeast table or at a social gathering 
in the neighborhood killed his step-brother with a blow of 
his tomahawk. His step-mother was absent from home at 
the time; on her return she avenged the death of her son by 
securing the murder of Jack Pytchlyn by persons hired for 
that purpose. He was murdered near Old Hamilton or 
Cotton Gin Port. Some of the Pytchlyn daughters or grand- 
daughters were educated at the old Franklin Academy, to 
which school they rode every day on their Indian ponies; 
others were educated at Nashville, Tenn., and corresponded 
with their white friends and neighbors, the elder Prowells 
and Canfields with whom they were well acquainted. 



proof of the Christian religion that I know." He was a most humane 
master and the love between him and his slaves was beautiful. 

General Brownrigg was the father of Dr. John Brownrigg, Mrs. 
E. B. Waddell (the mother of H. M. Waddell, a man beloved and res- 
pected by the people of Columbus). General Brownrigg's two other 
sons, Thomas and Richard, also served with distinction in the Confed- 
erate army. Richard was killed in Louisiana while an officer on Gen- 
eral Sibley's staff. Another daughter, Sarah, married Chancellor La- 
fayette Haughton, of Aberdeen, Miss. 



64 

Peter Pytchlyn, after the sale of nis lands in Lowndes 
county, moved to the Choctaw Nation west of the Mississippi 
River, was for many years representative of that nation in 
Washington. 

Maj. Jack (John Pytchlyn, Sr.), died at his home near 
Columbus in the fall of 1835. He was buried, temporarily, 
in a field directly in front of the Waverly mansion. His 
grave was enclosed for several years by a good brick wall. 
His widow paid one or two annual visits to keep the grave 
in good repair. After one of the visits the grave had the 
appearance of having been opened. The neighbors supposed 
that Mrs. Pytchlyn had taken up the remains and carried 
them with her to the Nation, especially as she returned no 
more. A large oak tree immediately over the grave and a 
few scattered brick mark the spot where he was buried. 

The funeral was conducted after the manner of the Choc- 
taws and all his war equipments were deposited with the 
coffin. His old war horse was also brought to be killed and 
buried in the grave, but Judge Samuel Gholson, of Aberdeen, 
who was present, interposed and assured the widow that a 
horse suiting his rank would be furnished him by the Great 
Spirit in the Happy Hunting Ground. She consented to spare 
his horse. Daniel W. Ragsdale was also present at the funeral. 

The temporary interment accounts for the fact of a Choc- 
taw chief's burial in the Chickasaw territory. 

A copy of The Southern Argus, a paper published in Col- 
umbus, Miss., in 1836, contained a notice concerning the 
sale of certain lands in Lowndes county, dated January 14, 
1836, and signed by Samuel Garland, executor of John Pytch- 
lyn, Sr. 

Samuel Garland was probably the son-in-law of John 
Pytchlyn, and son of J. Garland, a noted Choctaw mentioned 
in the Dancing Rabbit Treaty. 

After the death of John Pytchlyn, Sr., all the Pytchlyn 
family moved west to the Choctaw reservation in the Indian 
Territory. 




COL. GEORGE H. VOLNG. 

(17^19-1880.) 



64 



65 

EARLY SETTLERS. 

The enlargement of Lowndes county, in 1833, by the 
addition of that section of the country west of the Tombigbee 
River, included a portion of land north of the Tibbee creek, 
about 40,000 acres which belonged to the Chickasaw nation. 
These lands came into market in 1835, and were soon regarded 
extremely fertile and specially adapted to the growth of 
cotton, the rock underlying the soil being at a lower depth, 
thus allowing the tap root more easily to descend and obtain 
moisture during the summer months in which matured its 
crop of fruit. 

Lands with a shallow soil were better adapted to the 
growth of com which was supported almost entirely by surface 
roots and could be made before the summer drouths appeared. 

These Chickasaw lands attracted the attention of settlers 
from the older states, among whom was Col. George H. Young, 
from Georgia, who came out to examine and select lands for 
his friends at home. Col. Young soon became acquainted 
with their location and merit, and attended the land sales 
at Pontotoc in 1835. Gen. Humphries represented the gov- 
ernment at these sales and Col. Young was made his secretary. 
After the sales, he assisted several of the land speculators 
in disposing of their purchases and bought for himself five 
sections of prarie land from Jones Colbert, a white settler 
among the Chickasaws of considerable note. He lived in 
the prairies a short distance from West Point. The prairie 
was called Colbert prairie after him, as was also the ferry 
over the Tombigbee river at the county line. Col. Young 
first settled on his prarie farm, but afterwards moved to the 
bluff on the Tombigbee River then known as Mullen's bluff. 



George Hampton Young was born in Oglethorpe county, Geor- 
gia, December, 1799. He studied at the University — then Franklin 
College — of Georgia, subsequently going to Columbia College, New 
York, where he received his degree in 1820. He chose law for a pro- 
fession and practiced it till he came to Mississippi, where his large 
planting interest fully occupied him. 

He served several terms in the legislatures of Georgia and Missis- 
sippi. His genial manners and unstinted hospitality drew a constant 
stream of visitors to "Waverly,"his country home, where many of the 
most distinguished men of the state and nation were entertained. — 
Editor. 

6 



66 

He bought out Mullen and Beal and Bigbee, thus making 
it a large estate and a permanent home for himself and family. 
He called the place "Waverly" and continued his improve- 
ments until he had made it one of the most beautiful and 
noted country residences in northeast Mississippi. His home 
mansion was a very large two-story, many roomed house, 
equal to the entertainment of his sons and daughters and 
their families, and his numerous friends. He planted orchards, 
had kennels of hunting dogs, fishing boats and erected bath 
houses at the artesian well near the house. He built ware- 
houses, erected a store and a large saw and grist mill, and 
operated the ferry; thus making the place assume the ap- 
pearance of a hansdome village. Col. Young was a prominent 
Lowndes county politician and was well acquainted with 
men of state and national reputation. He was a prosperous 
planter and continued adding to his lands until his estate was 
equal to any in the country. After his death his estate passed 
into the hands of his family, several of whom live in Columbus. 
He had six sons, Watt, Valley, Beverly, Thomas, Erskine, 
James, and William Lowndes. Maj. Valley and W. L. still 
survive and live on their paternal estates. His daught- 
ers, Mrs. Sue Chambers, Mrs. Georgia Young, and Mrs. J. O. 
Banks live in Columbus at this time and still own large farms 
out of the paternal heredity. Mrs. Reuben O. Reynolds 
lives in Aberdeen. The Waverly homestead is the property 
of Mr. W. L. Young. 

The writer easily recalls the names of many of the early 
settlers on the West Point road, and as many of their farms 
became the property of Columbus citizens they deserve men- 
tion at this place: Fortson settlement, now owned by Dr. 
WilHam Burt, of Columbus; G. H. Lee; Gov. Brown and 
Thos. Martin, of Tennessee, afterwards bought by Col. Young; 
D. W. Wright, afterwards owned by Richard Sykes and his 
sons. Col. E. T. Sykes and Dr. Richard Sykes, of Columbus; 
Winston, of Mobile, bought by Dr. R. F. Matthews, now 
owned by his daughter, Mrs. Sullie Bradford; Gen. Griffin, 
bought by C. R. Crusoe, Esq.; Sethe Poole, afterwards owned 
by Capt. W. Harris; Lloyd, now owned by Prof. Barrow; 
Westbrook, Crump and others. 



67 

This section of the county in 1871 was set off by legis- 
lative enactment to Colfax, now Clay county, notwithstanding 
the vigorous protest of the citizens of Lowndes. The matter 
occupied the attention of two sessions of the legislature, and 
was at last concluded by providing that Colfax county should 
pay her share of the Lowndes county debt which had become 
very large under "carpet bag" rule. Lowndes county lost 
by this transaction between 40,000 or 50,000 acres of her 
most fertile and valuable lands. 

PLYMOUTH. 

Four miles below the Waverly bluff was another bluff 
which, on account of its ancient traditional importance, was 
called by its earliest settlers. Old Plymouth, and was claimed 
by some of them to have been the camping ground of DeSoto 
.'n his passage through Mississippi. Many scraps of old ar- 
mor and pieces of pottery and war implements of Spanish 
manufacture were found there and they claim also that it 
was a stronghold of defense against the Indians, and a deposit 
for munitions of war and provisions for the use of the army 
operating in this section of the country. Some claim that 
it was fortified by Bienville and that he made it his place 
of deposit in nis operations against the Chickasaws and not 
Cotton Gin Port, as it is stated in the histories of the State. 
Remains of the fortifications existed within the knowledge 
of our old settlers, especially that of a large fort inside of the 
fortifications, built of large cedar logs, two stories in height 
and perforated with port holes above and below for the use 
of fire arms by the defendants within. This cedar fort was 
taken down by the Canfields who now own Old Plymouth, 
and was used to build other houses on the plantation, which 
still are in a good state of preservation. Some believe the 
fort was built by General Jackson in his operations against 
the Creeks and was the base of supplies. Until history makes 
a more satisfactory explanation of the old Spanish relics, 
stockade fortifications, and cedar forts, our Lowndes county 
traditions are as credible as any account yet given. 

After the settlement of the Choctaw lands began. Old 
Plymouth became a site of considerable importance on ac- 
count of its facilities for crossing the river at a shallow ford 



68 

near by, and as a place for the storage and shipmentof cotton. 
It was also considered a beautiful spot with its prodigious 
growth of large cedars for the location of the homes of the 
families of the neighboring settlers. James Prowell, Sr., 
Orlando Canfield, Sr., John Morgan, Sr., and John Cox, Sr., 
built residences there. 

The Irbys, Billingtons, and Mullens erected warehouses 
and stores. Richard Evans, Esq., and his brother Dr. Evans, 
and Mr. L. M. Hatch also settled there, and in 1836 the town 
was incorporated and laid ofif into squares and streets and 
was the prospective rival of West Point just below, and Colum- 
bus across the river. It became a trading point of importance ; 
a great number of bales of cotton were shipped from there 
but the place proved so unhealthy and the death rate so great 
that it was abandoned. The planters moved to their plan- 
tations and the merchants and lawyers to Columbus. 

Old Plymouth is now a field cultivated by Mr. Orlando 
Canfield and despite the superstitions of the negroes, and 
the application of the New England query, " Who ate 
Roger Williams?" grows abundant crops of com and po- 
tatoes. 

The Plymouth prairie was settled by the senior Canfield, 
Prowell, Morgan, Hayden, Cox, Swearingen and Speed, and 
is still the home of their descendants, families of brave men 
and women who are making a noble fight to hold their estates 
against all the odds of negro tenants and scarcity of white 
associates, schools, and churches. 

They are still trying the problem of negro labor and the 
agricultural world is looking to these courageous, self-denying 
planters for the result of their costly experiments and their 
industrious effort to repeat the success of their fathers and 
grand-fathers, citizens of whom old Lowndes has reason to 
be justly proud. 



69 



CHAPTER X. 

EARLY SETTLERS IN LOWNDES COUNTY WEST OF THE 
TOMBIGBEE CONTINUED. 

Across the long bridge over Catalpa creek lies what is 
known as the Cannon fields, and now cultivated by a company 
of German farmers who prefer good, sandy soil and plenty 
of wood and water to prairie lands with a scarcity of both. 

This large body of land was opened and settled by Hon. 
Rasha Cannon and his sons, Col. Wm. R. Cannon and Thos. 
E. Cannon, who came from South Carolina in 1833 or 1834 
and made their first home in Mississippi in this section of 
Lowndes county. After the death of Mr. Rasha Cannon, 
the homestead became the property of his younger sons, 
Newton and Robert Lowndes Cannon. 

Col. William R. Cannon settled first near Tibbee station. 
After the death of his first wife he returned to South Carolina 
and married Miss Eliza Jane Cannon, a wealthy heiress and 
highly educated lady of Darlington district. They brought 
with them her large patrimony of negro slaves, and Mrs. 
Cannon soon made her Choctaw home a pattern of elegance 
and comfort. Flowers, gardens, and home appointments 
soon exhibited the taste and refinement of her South Carolina 
lineage. 

After a few years. Col. Cannon bought a large tract of 
land in the center of the Mayhew prairie and built for his 
family a spacious home colonnaded on three sides, which 
commanded a view of all the neighboring farms. This home 
was large enough for all his family and his friends, and in 
it he dispensed a princely hospitality. He soon became a 
leading politician in Oktibbeha county, his home being just 
within its limits, and served that county in the legislature 
and senate of which body he became president. He was 
also a prominent candidate for governor, being defeated for 
the nomination by only a few votes. He moved to Columbus 
in 1852, built the residence now occupied by Mrs. E. J. Meek 
and died there in 1858. 



70 

After a number of years Mrs. Cannon married the Hon. 
A. B. Meek, of Mobile, Ala. She is still a resident of Columbus 
and though infirm in body, in the eighty-second year of her 
age, enjoys a vigorous intellect and can look back with pleas- 
ure on a well spent life, and forward to a longer and more 
glorious life in Heaven. 

The Hon. Jesse Speight, a distinguished Lowndes county 
politician, who served the county in the State Senate and 
Mississippi in the United States Senate, lived in the Mayhew 
prairie. His son-in-law, Mr. Thos. E. Cannon, lived on an 
adjoining farm. Mr. Thos. E. Cannon moved to Columbus 
and became a successful merchant of the firm of Simpson, 
Cannon and Company. After the war, he moved to Verona, 
Miss., and died in the eighty-sixth year of his age. On the 
south side of the Starkville road were Mrs. Sarah Tabb, Mrs. 
Amanda Cannon, Mrs. Jane Morrow, and Mrs. Maria Wither- 
spoon, all of whom, after the death of their husbands, moved 
to Columbus. Mrs. Witherspoon afterwards married Mr. 
E. B. Mason, and can at this time, with Mrs. Sarah Tabb, give 
their octogenarian testimony to the healthfulness of the city, 
the home of their adoption. 

WEST PORT 

One mile above Columbus, on the west bank of the Tom- 
bigbee River, just as soon as the Choctaw lands began to 
produce crops of cotton, there sprang up a village called by 
its settlers West Port, and built to accommodate the planters 
of western Lowndes and the adjacent counties in the shipment 
of their cotton and reception of their plantation supplies 
to and from Mobile, Ala. They thus avoided the payment 
of the ferriage across the river, and had good camping grounds 
for their wagons and teams. M. M. Carrington, relative of 
Col. John W. Burn, sheriff of Lowndes county in 1835, built 
its first store and warehouse. He was followed by Messrs 
Hoskins, Brownrigg, Hale and Murdock, Dick Jones, Foster, 
Alexander, and others. A town was regularly laid off; good 
residences, fine hotel, stores with large stocks of goods, and 
immense cotton sheds were erected with all the appointments 
of a prospective town. The shipment of cotton reached 
30,000 or 40,000 bales annually; but in 1840 a fine bridge was 



71 

built across the Tombigbee free to all Lowndes county citizens, 
which soon divided the storage of cotton and brought thous- 
ands of bales to the warehouses of Columbus. 

The great high water in 1847 deluged the town, swept 
off some of its warehouses and destroyed much of the sandy 
bluff on which it was situated. During this flood, the steam- 
boat Avalanche passed around the west buttress of the bridge 
to relieve the West Port and upper Tombigbee sufferers. 
This overflow recorded the highest water mark of the Tombig- 
bee River at Columbus. 

In 1861 the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and its branch 
to Columbus were completed, and West Port succumbed 
to the inevitable and is now a desert of white sand on which 
Daniel Davis (colored) with his black-smith shop and little 
farm hard by resides, its only occupant. 

The first warehouse in Columbus, on the Tombigbee 
River, was built on the bluff adjoining Mrs. E. B. Mason's 
residence and was owned successively by E. F. Calhoun, 
B. Drake, B. S. Long, and others. Another was built mid- 
way between this warehouse and the present bridge, and 
was owned by George Shaeffer, Aikin and Brown, Thomas 
March and others; but the high waters soon prevented its 
use and it was abandoned. Another warehouse was located 
op a foundation dug for the purpose in the bluff just above 
the railroad bridge, but was soon destroyed by the high waters. 

In 1901, a splendid iron bridge, free to all, spans the 
Tombigbee at the foot of Main Street in Columbus, and brick 
fire proof warehouses store and ship the cotton of the county, 
and large mercantile houses sell supplies to the planters on 
both sides of the river. In 1899 the storage of cotton reached 
its highest number, 66,000 bales. 

At the foot of the iron bridge begins the old Robinson 
road established by the legislature of 1821 from Jackson, 
the State capital, to Columbus, Miss., through the Choctaw 
Nation for transportation of the mails and the use of the 
traveling public. It was probably surveyed and opened by 
a man named Robinson, after whom it took its name, and 
though it has been changed to some extent it still exists 
very nearly as originally laid out. This road is mentioned 



72 

in the text of the Dancing Rabbit Treaty in 1830, and in the 
bill extending the Lowndes county line in 1831. 

In 1901 it is still called the Robinson road and extends 
in a south western direction through the county, emerging 
at its south western comer near Choctaw Agency, an old 
United States Agency and trading depot situated in the south- 
east comer of Oktibbeha county. On this road lived Maj. 
Jack Pytchlyn, in Lowndes county, and David Folson in 
Oktibbeha county, two noted Choctaw chiefs. 

Among the early settlers on the Robinson road, beginning 
one mile from West Port, was Dunstan Banks, who had a store 
and a residence, which he afterwards sold Maj. Sparkman. 

Large farms were opened north of the Robinson road 
in the Pytchlyn prairie by Col. John D. Bibb and Maj. John 
Oliver. These farms afterwards became the property of 
Charles McClaren and Calvin Perkins. Col. Bibb was the 
grand-father of Mrs. Ledyard Vaughn, and Maj. Oliver was 
the grand-father of Dr. John Oliver. 

On the south side were Thos. Gray, Hezekiah Leigh, 
Gen'l. Richard T. Brownrigg, who was the father of Dr. John 
Brownrigg, a prominent physician in Columbus, and whose 
second son, Capt. R. T. Brownrigg, a gallant officer in the 
Confederate army, was killed in the trans-Mississippi service. 
His third son, Capt. Tam Bro\vnrigg, was an officer in the 
famous battallion of sharp shooters commanded by Col. 
W. C. Richards. He died after the war in the state of Texas. 

On the Mayhew road were Thos. Short, William Peters, 
Rev. William Leigh, Col. Jack Moody, whose farm is now 
owned by Mrs. E. J. Meek, and Willis Banks, of Tuscaloosa, 
who opened a very large plantation now owned by Col. J. O. 
Banks, and Ryland, now owned by the McClary brothers. 

Returning to the Robinson road, the following well re- 
membered names occur: Mottley, Banks, Cobb, Amis, Cole- 
man, Maer, Williams, Hart, Bell, Whitfield, Randle, Connell, 
Winston, Lawrence, Toland, Mims, Tut Peebles, Brothers, 
Cook, Melton, Cromwell, and Shular. 

Cromwell owned the land on which the station Artesia 
is situated. 

The first settlers and merchants of Artesia were Crump 
and Cannon, Perkins, Brothers, and Dismukes. 



73 

The Gilmer road leaves the Robinson road three miles 
from Columbus and runs in a south westerly direction to 
Crawford. Among the early settlers on this road were Whit- 
field, "Daddy Mize," Jimmy Thompson, the Lanier place 
first settled by the Mottley's in 1833, who were ousted after 
making two crops for not registering; Philip St George Cocke, 
and Col. John Gilmer, a historic character who deserves more 
than a passing notice. He entered and opened a very large 
body of land on this road. He was married twice, his second 
wife being a wealthy widow, the mother of Dr. J.J. Gresham, 
of West Point. Col. Gilmer was a man, plain in his manners 
and frugal in his habits, with a strong, native intellect and 
love of literature, especially of politics and religion. He 
early became a Lowndes county politician and before 1840 
had served two terms in the state legislature. He was the 
author and strenuous advocate of the celebrated Woman's 
Law, and secured its passage in 1839. The enactment of 
this law made a new era in the civil rights of women and a 
epoch in the jurisprudence of Mississippi. By this law a 
wife could own separate property from her hjsband, real 
and personal, not subject for his debt nor to his sale or devise, 
without her consent, and has continued in force until this 
date. 

The Gilmer road was called after Col. Gilmer. He bought 
the stately McLaren mansion, perhaps the finest private 
residence in northeast Mississippi, now the residence of Capt. 
W. W. Humphries. He died at this place in 1861. 

Col. John Gilmer was the largest original stockholder 
in the company that built the Gilmer hotel, and this in con- 
junction with his earnest advocacy of the Woman's Law, 
decided its name. He has two daughters now residing in 
Columbus, Mrs. Susan McGee and Mrs. M. M. Burke, who 
own a large portion of his land estate. 

Beyond Col. Gilmer's home were Hartwell Thomason, Ca- 
pers Cross, the senior Toland, J. W. L. Smith, Samuel Mc- 
Gowan, P. G. Thompson, Belton, father of the Rev. John 
L. Belton, one of the first missionaries of the Southern Metho- 
dist church to China in 1853. He died at sea on his way 
home to recuperate his health. 



74 

Opposite this farm was located the famous Prairie Hill 
camp ground, which continued its annual meetings for a 
number of years. Very many of the early settlers heretofore 
mentioned built and occupied tents every year. This camp- 
meeting was distinguished for the generous hospitality of 
its tenters, the large number of visitors reaching up in the 
thousands, and its sweeping revivals of religion. The writer 
of these chapters is proud to call this camp ground his spiritual 
birth-place in 1849 and sincerely hopes the religion there 
obtained will continue to last him until his close of life. 

Beyond Prarie Hill camp ground the names of the fol- 
lowing persons are recalled: James Toland, Gilmer, Walker, 
Lawrence, Ledbetter, Randle, Carr, Brooks, Scales, and Cava- 
naugh. 

The village of Crawford was called after the Rev. Peter 
Crawford, and was distinguished from its earliest history 
for the morality and intelligence of its citizens, good schools 
and churches, and its stores well furnished with large stocks 
of goods. It was incorporated, governed by a mayor, and 
selectmen, made pleasant at all seasons of the year by its 
extensive plank sidewalks, and altogether is one of the most 
delightful prairie villages in this section of the state. 

From the Gilmer or Crawfordville road there stretches 
east a broad upland prairie, reaching almost to the Tombigbee 
River. In this section of the county many of Lowndes 
county's most excellent and worthy citizens settled. Among 
them were Lemuel Fields, Ervin, Hairston, Carson, Allison, 
Drennon, Love, Artemias Jennings, William Ervin, Sr., Samuel 
Witherspoon, James and Richard and Joseph Sykes, Dr. 
Grattan, Mottley,Odeneal, Deering, the Hargroves, Vaughans, 
Harveys, McCarty, Goolsby, the Easts, Gen. J. V. Harris 
of Georgia, and John Cox. Returning, on the Macon road 
across McGowah, were the Kyles, Jas. W. Harris, Bradford, 
Barry, Butler, Morton, Watson and Holdiness. 

The rapid growth and development of Columbus is due 
very largely to the fact that so many of these prairie planters 
moved into Columbus and built superb homes; expended 
their wealth in assisting to build Columbus churches and 
colleges and added to its high moral and social position among 
the cities of Mississippi. 




74 



75 



CHAPTER XL 

SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND NEWSPAPERS. 

FRANKLIN ACADEMY. 

Education having been so closely connected with the 
location and origin of the city of Columbus, it is deemed logical 
and appropriate to give to its schools, colleges, and news- 
papers the first mention in the special department of her 
history. 

The original sarvey of the town of Columbus in 1821 
and the lease of its lots constituted the legal and financial 
basis for the establishment of its first school, the Franklin 
Academy. This school is the oldest free public school in 
the State of Mississippi, and is now in the seventy-ninth annual 
session of its continued existence — a school second to none 
in educational excellence and school appointments, and offer- 
ing its advantages to all educable children, white or colored, 
male or female, in the city of Columbus and in the township 
in which it is situated. The literary history of the Franklin 
Academy for the first fifteen years is very meagre indeed, 
being confined to a description of its earliest school building 
and the names of but two teachers. 

All the histories agree that the first school building was 
a frame building about 30 by 40 feet in dimension, unceiled 
or unplastered, glass windows in front and long open windows 
with shutters in the rear, and covered first with boards and 
afterwards with shingles. The two teachers memtioned were 
Mr. Lawrence in 1828 (?) and Rev. David Wright, principal, 
in 1832. Mr. Jefferson Humphries was a teacher in 1835. 

In 1835 two new brick buildings were erected as the 
male and female departments of Franklin Academy. Each 
of the buildings was two stories high, containing two rooms 
above for the assistant teachers and one large room below 
for the use of the principal. They were well built of hard 
brick and continued in constant use for fifty-two years. 

The first principal of the male department who occupied 
the new building in 1836 was Mr. Abram Maer, a Scotch gen- 



76 

tleman, educated for an Episcopal minister and the popular 
teacher of a large boy's school, taught in a building situated 
on the site of the residence of Mrs. G. W. Cox. He continued 
as principal for one year with great satisfaction to the patrons 
and pupils, and resigned for a more enlarged field of labor. 
His assistants were J. Sewell Norris, and the Rev. Thos. 
Archibald. He was succeeded in 1837-1839 by Prof. Robert 
Bruce Witter as principal, the assistants continuing the same. 
Prof. J. A. McLean and wife took charge of the female de- 
partment in 1837 and 1838. 

In 1839 Mr. Joel Parker was principal, with Sewell Norris 
and Mr. J. W. Payne, a graduate of Yale College, assistants. 
During this session a school rebellion took place in which 
the large boys "turned out" the principal, and his department 
was discontinued until the end of the term. The assistant 
teachers were not included in the rebellion and they finished 
their school term. 

The school books used in 1840 were Webster's " blue 
back " speller, Eclectic readers, Olney's geography, Kirk- 
ham's grammar, Smiley's arithmetic, Grimshaw's history of 
the United States, and Comstock's philosophy. 

AN IMPORTANT FACT. 

In 1840 the trustees of the Franklin Academy were liable 
for a large debt incurred in the erection of the school building 
without resources for easy payment. A year or two before 
this date the trustees of the Franklin Academy had set apart 
square No. — north of Main Street as a public Cemetery for the 
use of the citizens of Columbus. The square was laid off 
in streets and lots 8 by 16 feet, subject to enclosure, singly 
or in parcels, by citizens for private use. In a letter dated 
August 21st, 1840, Mr. Abram Murdock proposed to the trus- 
tees as a financial plan for the payment of the debt, and a 
greater security to the citizens for burial purposes, that they 
lease these lots to the highest bidder as other lots or parts 
of lots were leased by the trustees of Franklin Academy in 
accordance with their legal obligations. This suggestion of 
Mr. Murdock's was not complied with and the cemetery was 
continued as a public burying ground according to the original 
plan until 18 — . In 1878, the mayor and board of aldermen 



77 

of the city of Columbus were made by State law the legal 
successors of the trustees of the Franklin Academy so far as 
the possession and management of the property and finances 
were concerned. 

Among the principals of the Franklin Academy who 
served between 1840 and 1860 were J. T. Hoskins, J. J. W. 
Payne, J. A. McLean, E. Wiley, Mansfield Clayton, McGahey, 
B. A. Vaughan, J. B. Weir and W. C. Carter. Among the 
assistants were S. W. Mullen, Henry Brown, W. W. Lester, and 
James D. Lynch. Among the principals of the female de- 
partment were Mrs. J. A. McLean and Miss Louisa Morse, 
with Miss Maria Morse. From 1860 to 1870, among the prin- 
cipals were J. A. Stevens and G. T. Stainback. In the 
female department were Miss Mattie Scull and Miss Mary 
Tabb. After 1870 the principals were T. R. Edmunds, J. M. 
Barrow (1873), C. H. Cocke, E. R. Sherman, and J. M. Bar- 
row, 1879 to 1901. 

Mrs. L. E. Eager was principal of the female department 
from 1876 to 1890 with an intermission of one year. Among 
the first male assistants were Dabney Lipscomb, S. M. Nash 
and Richard Leigh. Among the first female assistants were 
Mrs. Lizzie Hale, Miss Jennie Worthington and Miss Mary 
Mayo. 

Prof. J. M. Barrow, whose principalship comprises a 
period of twenty-five years, and Mrs. Laura E. Eager, whose 
principalship of the female department extended from 1875 
to 1890, are justly entitled to the greatest credit for their 
successful management during these years of highest pros- 
perity and educational character. 

IMPORTANT CHANGES 

After the constitution of 1869, in which the freedom and 
civil rights of the negro were fully recognized, it was deemed 
necessary to conform the charter of the Franklin Academy 
to this new condition of affairs. This was done by the pas- 
sage of a bill in 1877 introduced by the Hon. J. E. Leigh. 
In this bill all the requirements of the State school laws passed 
in accordance with the constitution, were incorporated into 
the charter and regulations of the Franklin Academy especi- 
ally that part which pertained to the equal education of the 



78 

negro. This was done by the establishment of the colored 
department of the Franklin Academy, called for convenience 
Union Academy, in which the educable negro children of 
Columbus and the township were admitted to equal rights 
and advantages with the white children and were governed in 
every particular by the same school regulations. Union 
Academy has been a flourishing school from that date to 
the present time and has been managed by the same board 
of school directors with great ease and success. W. I. Mitch- 
ell (colored) has served as assistant principal since the estab- 
lishment of Union Academy. 

Another important change in the charter and law of 
the Franklin Academy was made in 1878 by a bill introduced 
by the Honorable W. H. Sims. This bill abolished the old 
board of school trustees who had entire management of both 
the finances and the literary conduct of the school and made 
the mayor and board of aldermen of the city of Columbus 
the legal successors of the old trustees of the Franklin Academy 
except the literary management and the election of teachers 
which was put in the charge of a board of school directors 
to be elected every two years by the voters of the city and 
township. 

This put all of the school funds in charge of the city treas- 
urer, a bonded officer, and the expenditures in the hands of 
the official board which levied and collected the money with 
which to pay them. The board of mayor and aldermen had 
charge of all the school property, the erection and care of 
school buildings, fixing the salaries of teachers, etc. The 
school directors who were required to give no official bond 
were left free to carefully study the literary wants and success 
of the school and to secure competent teachers for the work. 

Under this division of labor and responsibility, the Frank- 
lin Academy has been maintained as a first class school of 
high grade, with so much the confidence of the citizens of 
the town as to control the largest portion of their patronage. 

In 1886, the two school buildings, male and female de- 
partments were deemed insufficient for the accommodation 
of the school and the present large and commodious edifice 
was erected at a cost of $20,000 the entire amount being paid 




RESIDENCE OF DR. R. R. STOCKARD. 



78 



Ai 



79 

without any special tax or issuance of bonds; and at this 
time the Franklin Academy is entirely free from debt. 

In 1839 the school trustees were Ovid P. Brown, Richard 
Barry, P. Wade, Wm. Covington, Thos. Magee; in 1847 James 
Whitfield, Eli Abbott, R. D. Haden, I. M. Knapp, J. J. W. 
Payne; in 1849 George R. Clayton, Robert D. Haden, Hardy 
Stevens, James S. Lull, Andrew W. Jordan; in 1856 James 
Miller, W. L. Lipscomb and others; in 1875 J. H. Sharp, 
B. A. Vaughan and others. 

In 1878 the board of school directors were J. M. Barrow, 
president, C. L. Lincoln, T. A. Schoolar, Titus Gilmer (colored), 
and Ben Fernandes (colored). 

In 1886 the board was W. L. Lipscomb, president, C. S. 
W. Price, J. A. Hudson and others. 

In 1901 S. M. Nash, president, R. S. Curry, Wm. Kilpat- 
rick, Wm. Newby and Wm. Gunter. 

In 1901 the faculty of the Franklin Academy consists 
of twenty-three teachers, fifteen white and eight colored. 
The names of the white teachers are as follows: Prof. J. M. 
Barrow, principal. Miss Jennie Worthington and Miss Mary 
Mayo, first assistants; Misses Blannie Shields, L. A. Neilson, 
Lena Roden, Fannie Young, Selena Martin, Laura Young, 
Annie Manning, Mary Stokes, Ruth Kennebrew, Mrs. M. B. 
Patterson and Mrs. A. T. Sale.* 

The colored teachers are W. I. Mitchell, H. B. Tucker, 
Mrs. Hattie Johnston, Mrs. Frank Morgan, Mrs. Lula Roberts, 
Mrs. Jonas Hunter, Mrs. Georgia Walker, Miss Bessie Nance. 

There are 668 white pupils and 860 colored. Total 
1,528. The school fund for 1900 was $9,706.58 of which 
$2,398.55 was received from city leases. 

COLUMBUS FEMALE SEMINARY. 

In 1832 about the time of the erection of the first Masonic 
hall on the southwest corner of the square now occupied by 
General S. D. Lee, Rev. David Wright established the Colum- 



*NoTE — Prof. Joe Cook succeeded Prof. J. M. Barrow as Super- 
intendent of the City Schools, and under his efficient administration 
FrankUn Academy still prospers and holds its place securely in the 
affections of the people of Columbus. A new building has been 
erected in the southern part of the town and named " The J. M. 
Barrow Memorial School." — Editor. 



80 

bus Female Seminary and taught in this building. The 
seminary became a flourishing institution and required the 
assistance of two additional teachers, Miss Axel and Miss Bray. 
Miss Bray was distinguished as being the earliest love of the 
Poet Longfellow, her name in this association and her coming 
south to teach in Columbus, Miss., being mentioned in some 
of his biographies. After three or four years the Seminary 
was discontinued. 

MISSISSIPPI FEMALE COLLEGE. 

Through the active agency of Mr. Abram Maer, a popular 
and successful teacher in Columbus, The Mississippi Female 
College was incorporated and established in Columbus 1838. 
It was a large two and a half story frame building, an imposing 
and commodious structure which included the dormitories 
and study halls. It was located on the hill northwest of the 
Franklin Academy. Mr. Abram Maer was its president as- 
sisted by an able corps of teachers among whom were Misses 
Dunning and Dewey and Prof. A. S. Pfister as music teacher. 
Irs first board of trustees was Thomas G. Blewett, president, 
Thomas Magee, R. T. Brownrigg, Benjamin S. Long, Thomas 
J. Brownrigg, Madison Walthall, John Huddleston, A. F. 
Young, James Jones, E. H. Sharp, Wm. Amis, E. B. Drake, 
Wm. Covington, A. J. Hodges and Ovid P Brown. 

The daughters of these trustees and other citizens were 
among its pupils. Boarders from a distance filled its dormi- 
tory and its success was well assured when it was suddenly 
destroyed by fire. 

In 1840 a May day celebration was first presented by 
this institution to the town of Columbus with the floral decora- 
tions, music, addresses and the crowning of the May queen, 
who at this time was Miss Mary Wade, one of the handsomest 
girls in the town and afterwards one of its reigning belles. 
She married the Hon. William Vassar, of Aberdeen, and was 
the sister of Mrs. B. A. Vaughn now of our city. 



81 



CHAPTER XI— Continued. 

SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND NEWSPAPERS— REV. C. C. 
PRESTON. 

In 1840 there was established one of the most remarkable 
schools in the educational history of Columbus. 

Quite a number of the leading citizens were dissatisfied 
with the character, scope, and influence of the educational 
ideas of the day, and they determined to secure a change 
in this particular and a teacher whose views corresponded 
with their own. They complained first of the memoriter 
or parrot like and ritualistic methods of instruction. Second, 
of the undue importance, both in time and consideration 
given to the dead languages, Latin and Greek, to the almost 
entire exclusion of the natural sciences, and third, they seri- 
ously objected to the science of arithmetic being taught by 
rules to the exclusion of all analysis or mental effort of the 
pupil. They also believed that the co-education of the sexes 
would be beneficial to both. 

The views of Froebel and Pestalozzi were becoming 
understood by the American world, and several Columbus 
boys had been sent to Europe for the benefit of instruction 
in these schools. The citizens succeeded in finding the Rev. 
C. C. Preston who had adopted their views and had success- 
fully demonstrated their practicability in a school at Moores- 
ville, Ala. Mr. Preston acceded to their proposals and came 
to Columbus in the fall of 1840. 

School houses were scarce at that time of the year and 
he opened his school in a two-room frame cottage on the lot 
now occupied by Capt. Dan Richards. 

After the close of the winter vacation the school was 
moved to a large and handsome cottage situated on the hill 
in the rear of the present Askew residence. 

The school was well furnished with double desks, black- 
boards, maps, globes, and all available school appointments. 
The girls who were admitted at this time, and the boys occu- 
pied adjoining desks according to their classification. All 

8 



82 

the views and methods of instruction of both patron and teach- 
er were fully carried out. The first new departure was the 
opening of the school with religous exercises of reading the 
Bible, singing and prayer, an exercise not common in the 
public schools and colleges of the day. The next change was 
the introduction of Colbum's Mental Arithmetic as the basis 
of all instruction to be given in the science of numbers, and 
classes were formed in botany, zoology, physiology, drawing, 
composition, music, and in penmanship with the muscular 
movement. 

The success of the school was phenomenal and at the 
examination in June, 1841, held in the basement of the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church, classes were examined in phren- 
ology, the pupils exemplifying their knowledge by examining 
the heads of visitors. The classes in botany, zoology, and 
physiology presented their specimens and essays prepared 
during the term. The class in Colburn's Mental Arithmetic, 
composed of boys and girls from fourteen to sixteen years 
of age, were examined on examples selected by the audience 
from the arithmetic of the day, their solution being accom- 
plished by the analysis used in their text book and without 
the knowledge of a single rule in the books from which the 
examples were taken. 

The success of this examination was very gratifying to 
the patrons and pupils of the school. 

The success of the second year was quite equal to that 
of the first. The enthusiasm of the pupils was so great that 
they complained of no tasks which were assigned them. They 
attended recitations before breakfast and at night without a 
murmur. They enjoyed beyond description the strolls on 
the banks of the Luxapalila for the purpose of collecting 
botanical and zoological specimens, and their annual science 
camp hunt and the dissection of subjects during recitation 
in physiology. The encouragement given to the development 
of their own mental perceptions and resources and the exercise 
of original thought and expression were especially gratifying 
to their young and vigorous minds and a number of Columbus 
men and women still thank the new education and C. C. Pres- 
ton for teaching them how to think their own thoughts and 
act on the promptings of their own independent wills. 



83 

In 1842 Rev. C. C. Preston left Columbus for other fields 
of labor. An extended sketch of this school has been given 
to allow 20th century educators an opportunity to ask the 
question, 'lis history repeating itself?" 

PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

From 1840 to 1860 Columbus was an Eldorado for school 
teachers and private schools. In 1842, Miss Williams taught 
a flourishing female school in the basement of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian church. In this school calisthenics was first 
taught in Columbus. During these years, Helm, Eager, 
Welton, Morse, Mills, Brown and Powell, all highly educated 
teachers, taught prosperous male schools. Dr. Simpson Shep- 
herd taught a female school in the Methediet church. Prof. 
Burnham taught a large school in the basement of the Presby- 
terian church. Mrs. Innis and Misses Harriet Love and Louisa 
Morse taught primary schools. 

To Miss Maria Morse belongs the honor of being the 
historic primary teacher of boys in Columbus. More men 
in Columbus at this time (1901) claim a joint memory of 
pupilage under her instruction than any other single teacher. 
She was a woman of substantial good sense and acted upon a 
few well defined ideas. She believed if a boy was taught to 
spell well, to tell the truth, and had been well whipped, he 
could make a good man. Columbus honors the memory of 
Miss Maria Morse. 

About 18.50 Mr. Abram Maer estabhshed the Montevallo 
Male and Female Academy, which soon reached a high degree 
of prosperity. In this school Professor Foster, T. C. Weir 
and Col. Wheadon were teachers in the male department 
and Prof. Markstein in the department of music. The inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows also established a male high 
school, which was well patronized on account of the high 
character and educational ability of the teachers, among 
whom were Profs. S. M. Meek, John W. Chandler, A.J.Quinche, 
Thos. B. Bailey, Thos. Carter, W. H. Lee, B. F. Meek, Samuel 
Pope, and Lewis and wife. The school began in the present 
city hall building and was afterwards moved to a large two 
story brick school house erected by the Odd Fellows in the 



84 

eastern portion of Columbus, It was destroyed by fire and 
not rebuilt. 

After the war Capt. T. C. Belcher, A. D. McVoy, Prof. 
T. R. Edmunds, Mrs. L. E. Eager, Mrs. Alston, Misses Worth- 
ington. Pierce, Shaeflfer, and Bean were popular private school 
teachers. 

COLUMBUS FEMALE INSTITUTE. 

In 1847, seeing the necessity of educating Columbus 
girls at home. Col. A. A. Kincannon set on foot a project to 
erect a female college in Columbus, and with the hearty co- 
operation of many of the leading citizens they projected and 
established by subscription the Columbus Female Institute. 
As soon as the necessary amount of money was subscribed, the 
stockholders met and elected the following board of trustees : 
George R. Clayton, president; A. A. Kincannon, John S. 
Topp, J. T. Harrison, Samuel Butler, Thos. G. Blewett, Rich- 
ard Evans, W. L. Harris, W. W. Humphries, D. Lipscomb, 
Green Hill, G. H. Young, Jonathan Decker, treasurer, S. A. 
Brown, secretary. 

The trustees purchased the property known as the resi- 
dence of Maj. Moore, a large 12-room house, situated on the 
present site of the I.I. and College, and built the White House, 
which contained the study hall and recitation rooms, and 
which is now a part of that institution. The institute opened 
in 1848 with the Rev. A. S. Smith as president, and a full 
corps of competent teachers. 

The Institute was prosperous from the very start and 
well patronized by Columbus citizens and the adjoining coun- 
ties. Most of the families in Columbus were represented, 
and the very elite and most literary of our Columbus women 
were pupils within its walls. Grandmothers and mothers 
remember it as the school in which they were educated and 
took their degrees, and while memory lasts the old people 
of Columbus will recall with gratitude and pleasure the Colum- 
bus Female Institute. 

President Smith remained two years and was succeeded 
by R. A. Means, A. M., a South Carolina gentleman of birth 
and education. He was president for several years. He 



85 

was succeeded by Mr. J. H. McLean, a scholarly lawyer and 
successful teacher, who taught only one year. 

Rev. B. F. Larrabee and wife, assisted by Dr. J. W. 
Shattuck and wife followed him and brought the Institute 
up to the zenith of its prosperity and success. The dormitory 
could not accommodate its boarders, and first class work 
was being accomplished in its school rooms and its reputation 
extending to the neighboring states, when unfortunately 
the dormitory was destroyed by a fire caused by falling of 
a burning toy balloon upon its roof. This accident occurred 
in the fall of 1858. 

In 1859, Prof. Larrabee and trustees succeeded in raising 
about $30,000, and with this amount proceeded to the erection 
of a large three story dormitory sufficient to accommodate 
300 boarders. In October, 1860, this institution was re- 
opened with the dormitory partly finished, with a flourishing 
school, which was discontinued in 1861 on account of the 
existing war and continued closed until 1867, when it was 
re-opened by Rev. A. S. Andrews as president. He served 
several years and discontinued his presidency to accept the 
chancellorship of the Southern University at Greensboro, 
Ala. Dr. Andrews was succeeded by Prof. J. J. Baird, and 
he, after a year's service, was succeeded by Rev. J. F. Tarrant 
and his highly accomplished wife, now a prominent educator 
in Alabama. In 1875 Miss Lorraine Street, who had been 
for a number of years connected with the institution as pro- 
fessor in several departments, was elected president. It 
continued with much success under her management until 
1885, when it became the property of the State under the name 
of the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College. 

The Columbus Female Institute occupied a period of 
over thirty years in the educational history of Columbus, 
and was the leading female college in northeast Mississippi. 
Among its prominent assistant teachers were Mrs. Laura 
E. Eager and Miss M. J. Callaway, and in the music depart- 
ment were Profs. Callowoda, Markstein, and Poleman. Mrs. 
Torry presided for a score of years over its art department, 
and many parlors and homes are decorated with paintings, 
the work of her pupils. She still lives at an advanced age, 
honored and loved by the citizens of Columbus. 



86 

INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE. 

In 1858, Miss Sallie Renau, a young lady of high literary 
attainments, of Grenada, Miss., being much interested in 
the subject of female education, and objecting to the very 
partial manner in which the State of Mississippi was dispensing 
her educational advantages to the exclusion of the girls of 
the State, prepared a memorial on the subject setting forth 
the rights of women to equal school opportunities with men 
and asking for the establishment by the State, of a female 
college, equal in all its advantages to the State University, 
for the education of her girls. Her memorial was presented 
to the State Legislature and received a warm approval by 
Gov. J.J. McRea who recommended it in his annual message 
to the legislature. The memorial was referred to the commit- 
tee on education and was never reported upon. At a later 
date the subject was re-opened by Mrs. Annie C. Peyton, 
of Copiah county, in the newspapers of the day, and with 
the assistance of Mrs. John G. Hastings, of Claiboume county, 
the Hon. John McMartin, senator from that county, prepared 
and secured the passage of a bill through the legislature of 
1884 incorporating the Industrial Institute and College. The 
provisions of the bill were complete, and trustees were ap- 
pointed who asked for proposals by the cities and towns of 
the state to secure its location. 

Columbus, Miss., made an offer of the large buildings 
and adjacent grounds of the Columbus Female Institute, 
together with $50,000 of city bonds, making the amount 
equal to $90,000. The offer of Columbus was accepted by 
the trustees and, in October, 1885, the Industrial Institute 
and College opened its first session. 

As a matter of historical record in the history of Colum- 
bus, and for the purpose of showing her early interest in the 
higher education of women, the following fact is herewith 
recorded: Fourteen years after the memorial of Miss Sallie 
Renau, and fifteen years before the incorporation of the Indus- 
trial Institute and College, in 1870, at a meeting of the board 
of trustees of the Columbus Female Institute while A. S. 
Humphries was president, S. A. Brown, secretary, and Jas. 
Sykes, W. W. Humphries, W. L. Lipscomb and others were 



87 

trustees, a resolution was unanimously adopted, directing 
that a memorial be prepared setting forth the views of the 
trustees on the necessity for additional advantages for the 
higher education of the girls of Mississippi and offering as 
a basis for a favorable commencement of this great work at 
the hands of the State, the buildings and adjacent grounds 
of the Columbus Female Institute sold buildings and grounds 
to be used as the female department of the State University. 
The memorial was prepared in due form, addressed to the 
State Legislature and to the trustees of the State University 
for their cooperation. This memorial was placed in charge 
of Chancellor Theodoric C. Lyon of Columbus, for presen- 
tation to the university board of trustees in session at Oxford. 
The memorial was presented to the trustees, received and 
filed, but as they were at that time engaged with the problem 
of excluding the negroes from the State University, they asked 
that its consideration be postponed until this difficulty was 
removed, which was done by the establishment of Alcorn 
University in 1871. 

"At its opening in October, 1885, there was present 250 
applicants, more than could be received into the dormitories. 
Every session since the promise of this auspicious opening 
has been more than fulfilled. During the fifteen years of 
the school's life more than 2,600 young women have come 
under its instruction. Of these some 409 are still in school. 
Two hundred and eighty-nine have taken certificates of pro- 
ficiency in industrial arts and seventy-five the degree of B.A. 
A large proportion of the B. A. graduates are filling with 
distinction, chairs in southern colleges." (Extract from L L 
& C. Catalogue 1890) 

The presidents of the Industrial Institute and College 
have been as follows: Dr. R. W. Jones, Prof. Chas. H. Cocke, 
Miss M. J. Callaway, Prof. A. H. Beals, Dr. Robert Frazer, 
and Prof. A. A. Kincannon, now its honored president and 
grand nephew of the Hon. A. A. Kincannon, the projector 
of the Columbus Female Institute in 1848.* 



*NoTE — State Superintendent of Education H. L. Whitfield, in 
1907, succeeded Prof. Kincannon as President of the Industrial Insti- 
tute and College, the latter having been elected Chancellor of the 
State University. Industrial, art, science, normal, literary and phys- 
ical education departments have been established; handsome build- 
ings provided for each, and the I. I. & C. under its present adminis- 
tration continues increasingly its career of blessing to the women of 
the State, — Editor. 



88 

Under its present management with its superb buildings, 
furnished with every modern improvement, with its varied 
and extensive Hterary and industrial courses of study and its 
extremely cheap expense account to its students, the insti- 
tution is fast realizing the expectation of the State and the 
highest hopes of its projectors and friends. The girls of Mis- 
sissippi are being educated for lives of usefulness and dis- 
tinction. When the industrial and art departments are fur- 
nished with buildings commensurate with their special de- 
mands and importance, the state of Mississippi will have an 
industrial institute and college of which she may always and 
justly be proud. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Two newspapers were established in Columbus about 
1833-34 called The Southern Argus and Democratic Press, 
which represented the two political parties of the day; The 
Southern Argus representing the National Republicans, led 
by Henry Clay, and The Democratic Press representing the 
Democratic Republicans, led by Andrew Jackson. The editors 
of The Southern Argus were S. Nash and G. W. Bonnell. This 
paper was merged in 1840 into The Columbus Whig and became 
the organ of the Whig party. The Democratic Press was edited 
by M. E. Abbey and in 1836 became The Columbus Democrat. 
The Whig continued its issues until 1850, when its name was 
chaxiged to Primitive Republican. Among the editors of The 
Columbtis Whig were R. H. Browne, W. P. Jack, (1843); 

E. J. C. Kewen, (1847); W. A. Short, W. P. Donnell and 

F. G. Baldwin, (1850). The Primitive Republican, F. G. 
Baldwin editor, in 1850 was merged into The Columbus Dem- 
ocrat in 1853. 

"THE COLUMBUS DEMOCRAT," 

which began its issue in 1836 was continued without inter- 
ruption until 1859 when H. H. Worthington, who had been 
its sole editor for twenty-three years, died. H. H. Worth- 
ington was the father of Henry Winfield, and Samuel Worth- 
ington, who were all connected with the press in Columbus. 
The Columbus Democrat, Henry Worthington editor, was 
continued until 1861, and stopped its issue on account of the 



89 

war. The Columbus Democrat was re-established in 1868 
with W. H. and W. C. Worthington, as editors until 1874 
when S. Newton Berryhill became the editor. He continued 
as editor until 1879 when The Columbus Democrat was sold 
to The (Columbus) Daily Dispatch Company. Mr. Robert 
J. Youngblood was associated with S. N. Berryhill during 
the last year of its existence. 

The Palladium, a literary monthly for young men was 
published in 1848 by Rev. J. N. Roach, pastor of the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church. It was discontinued after a 
short existence. 

The Evangelist, a religous monthly, was published for 
a short time in 1848, by Green Hill, an intelligent layman of 
the Christian church. The Columbus Eagle, a weekly news- 
paper was published in 1856, R. O. Davidson and W. M. Shep- 
herd, editors. 

The Southern Standard, a strong and vigorous political 
paper began its career in Columbus in 185-, with Dumas, 
Chapman and Mellard as successive editors, when in 1856 
it was merged into The Columbus Democrat. No newspaper 
was published during the Confederate war. 

" THE COLUMBUS INDEX " 

was established in 1865 by the Worthington brothers as editors 
and proprietors. Jas. A. Stevens, was local editor in 1867. 
The Worthingtons continued editors and proprietors of The 
Index until 1868, when it passed into the hands of Jas. A. 
Stevens, T. H. Baker, and Capt. Battle Fort. After a year 
or two, T. H. Baker retired. Capt. Battle Fort sold his inter- 
est to Maj. Gardner Tucker, when it was conducted with 
Tucker and Stevens as editors and proprietors until 1874 
when Tucker became the sole proprietor. 

Mr. J. A. Martin succeeded Mr. Gardner Tucker as editor 
and proprietor of The Index, and with his sons, C. C. and Stan- 
ley Martin, continued its publication as a weekly and semi- 
weekly for a long period of time. He was succeeded by Capt. 
R. W. Banks and Miss Lucile Banks who transferred The 
Index to the ownership of Mr. J. T. Senter, and he, after 
changing its name to The Columbus Commercial, has con- 

9 



90 

tinued to issue it as a weekly and semi-weekly to the present 
time, 1901. 

" THE INDEPENDENT" 

was established by J. A. Stevens in 1875. Sometime after, 
Gen. J. H. Sharp became associate editor and proprietor and 
subsequently sole editor and proprietor until its discontinu- 
ance. 

The Southern Sentinel was established in October 1879 
by L. A. Middleton and continued until his death in 1887. 

The Patron of Husbandry was established in 1872 by 
W. H. Worthington and after a continuance of eight or ten 
years was moved to Memphis. 

" THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH " 

in 1880 became the property of J. M. Barrow and others and 
was continued as a weekly newspaper until 1881, and was 
then sold to Mrs. S. C. Maer who succeeded as editor and 
proprietor of TheDispatch, and with the assistance of her sons, 
Artemus and Percy, has continued its publication as a weekly 
and semi-weekly from tnat time to the present. 

The New Light, with R. D. Littlejohn (colored) as editor 
and proprietor, was established about 1887 as the organ of 
the colored people, has continued its publication since that 
date. 

[Note — The writer desires to express his thanks and indebtedness 
to Maj. W. A. Love, of Lowndes county, for the use of material col- 
lected by him some years ago, from which many of the facts contained 
in the history of newspapers in Columbus were taken.] 

TWO LITERARY DECADES IN COLUMBUS. 

The decade beginning 1840 was distinguished for its 
literary character and opportunities. During this period 
the great political parties of the nation, the Whig and Demo- 
cratic parties, held their political discussions in the presence 
of interested and excited thousands of citizens. Columbus 
was a favorite field for Mississippi's best orators and statesman, 
and the intellects and patriotic spirits of her people were 
stirred to their deepest depths. 



91 

Two celebrated religious discussions took place in Colum- 
bus during this decade. The first, between a learned Scotch 
divine of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, the Rev. 
James Smith, D. D., a highly accomplished scholar, and Prof. 
C. G. Olmsted, infidel in his belief and teaching, on the sub- 
ject of the inspiration and authenticity of the Bible. The 
second between the Rev. T. J. Fanning, one of the most dis- 
tinguished controversialists of the Christian church, and the 
Rev. J. A. Lyon. 

Literary societies were very popular and very useful. 
The Columbus Lyceum, an institution for the promotion 
of literature, science, and oratory was established and held 
its weekly public meetings for a number of years. In 1847 
Dr. Dabney Lipscomb was president; Thomas W. Christian, 
vice president; Geo. W. Van Hook, secretary; William Ward, 
assistant secretary; John N. Mullen, treasurer; Dr. S. W. 
Malone, librarian. In 1848, Chas. H. Morse, Esq., was presi- 
dent with J. T. Sims, vice president; G. W. Van Hook, secre- 
tary, Joseph W. Field, treasurer. The name of T. I. Sharp 
appears as vice president. 

Not only were the literary and professional men organized 
for mutual improvement but the working men had their 
organizations, notably the Trades Union Association and 
Library. This society was very popular and numerous. 
In 1847 its officers were John K. Ottley, president, assisted 
by Harrison Hale, N. E. Goodwin, John R. Sanders, Benja- 
min Catley and Seth C. Floyd. It collected six or seven 
hundred volumes in the Trades Union Library. This library 
was somewhat scattered during the great fire in 1854. The 
remnant was transferred to the care of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, and many of its volumes are still to be 
found with their blue linen covers stamped Trades Union 
Library. 

The decade beginning in 1890 was another distinguished 
literary period, and at this time entirely controlled by the 
women of Columbus, who organized Shakespeare and century 
clubs, reading circles and musical societies, whose study and 
investigation included the whole field of literature and made 
the women of Columbus as cultivated and appreciative readers 



92 



and critics as those of any city in the land. In the vanguard 
of modem literature they will not hesitate to follow where 
Mrs. Browning, Louise Alcott, George Eliot, and such like 
may lead them. 





92 



93 



CHAPTER XII. 

RELIGIOUS— CHURCHES AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 

"METHODISM IN COLUMBUS, MISS., DURING NINETEENTH CEN- 
TURY." READ AT THE WATCH NIGHT SERVICE DECEMBER 
31, BY G. D. HARRIS, RECORDING STEWARD. 

Dr. W. L. Lipscomb and I have been appointed to prepare 
a history of Methodism in Columbus, Mississippi, during the 
century just closing. For convenience I have undertaken 
to prepare such a collection of historical facts as we have 
been able to collect from records and bring together in con- 
cise form. 

Dr. Lipscomb will follow with such remarks on these 
facts, and with reminiscences as will make this record more 
complete. 

At the time that the Tennessee and Kentucky troops 
cut the old Military road on their way to reinforce Gen. Jack- 
son at New Orleans in 1813, Columbus was a little trading 
post with the Choctaw Indians, and called *0'possum Town, 
and afterwards a little village called by its present name. 
From that time until 1831 we have no record of any church 
building being erected at this place, although it had grown 
to be a village of 500 inhabitants. To ascertain what re- 
ligious advantages its citizens enjoyed, we have industriously 
searched the history of the Methodist conferences occupying 
this territory. 

The first item of interest is taken from the records of the 
Mississippi conference in IS 19. Said conference at that time 
occupied the whole of the territory now included in the States 
of Alabama and Mississippi, and had been organized since 
1816. Among the list of circuits we find Buttahatchie, after- 
wards known as Marion circuit, which extended from the 
mouth of Sipsey on the Tombeckbee River, north to Cotton 
Gin Port thence east to Marion county, Ala., and taking in 
a part of east Mississippi and west Alabama, Columbus being 
within the bounds of this circuit. We can only conclude 



Note — In the Choctaw, Sheck-a-tah Tom-a-ha. — Editor. 



94 

that religious services of some kind were conducted at that 
time. 

In 1819-1821 this circuit was served by Rev. Ebenezer 
Heam and Thomas Stringfield, who must have been the pion- 
eers of Methodism in this section of Mississippi. 

From 1822 to 1832, Marion circuit was served by the 
following preachers in the order named: Thomas Clinton, 
Benjamin F. Lidden, Wiley Ledbetter, John G. Lee, Thomas 
Owens, Thomas S. Abemathy, Peyton S. Graves, Thomas E. 
Ledbetter, Isaac V. Enochs, Leroy Massengale, Jesse Mize, 
Moses Perry, Felix Wood, Blanton P. Box, Lewis S. Turner, 
Preston Cooper, Nathan Hopkins and Anthony S. Dickinson. 

From 1819 to 1832 the membership in the circuit in- 
creased from 72 to 932; the largest increase was in that part 
which lay in Mississippi, and necessarily included the member- 
ship at Columbus. 

During the year 1831 the Methodists erected the first 
church in the town of Columbus. Before that time we have 
satisfactory evidence that several of the religious denomina- 
tions, the Methodist included, used the Franklin Academy 
as a place of worship. 

In 1832 the Mississippi conference was divided and Colum- 
bus, with that part of Mississippi on the east side of the Tom- 
beckbee, fell in to the Alabama conference and became a 
station, with the Rev. Richard H. Herbert, pastor, and Rev. 
Eugene Le Vert, presiding elder of the Columbus district. 

The first quarterly conference of Columbus station was 
held February 25, 1833. There were present: Eugene Le 
Vert, presiding elder; Richard H. Herbert, pastor; Wm. 
Dowsing, Sr., Robert D. Haden, Geo. Shaeffer, Wm. L. Clark, 
Ovid P. Brown and Wm. Dowsing, Jr., stewards. At the 
second quarterly conference, held May 18, 1833, Dabney 
Lipscomb and Alexander Gray were elected stewards. 

The records of Columbus station were too incomplete 
to give an accurate number of the members at this early date. 

The growth was slow until 1839, when under Rev. Wm. 
Wier, presiding elder, and Rev. Wm. Murrah, pastor, there 
was added to the church 30 substantial men with their families, 
increasing the membership to over 100. From this date the 
church has prospered and has grown steadily. 



95 

During the sixty-eight years of its existence this church 
has enrolled about 3,000 members; has had 19 presiding 
elders and 35 pastors. Of the 700 members now belonging 
to the church, all except 12 have joined since 1860, these 12 
being the only survivors of the first 1,000 members. 

For additional and later facts regarding the history of 
the Columbus church, we refer you to the tabulated record, 
framed and hanging in the Sunday School room, and to the 
regular record books kept by the church secretary. 

This church was served in 1842 by Bishop H. N. Mc- 
Tyiere, and in 1860 by Bishop R. K. Hargrove as pastors. 

The Columbus church has owned three brick church 
buildings; the first erected in 1831 on comer lot just east 
of concert hall; the second erected in 1844, still standing 
and known as the Jewish Temple; the third our own church 
on Main Street, was erected in 1860 and finished in 1866, 
being one of the largest and handsomest buildings in the state. 

The Alabama conference held four of its sessions in Col- 
umbus. 

1st. In 1838, Bishop Andrew presiding. This confer- 
ence held a watch night service at that session. 

2nd. 1843, Bishop Soule presiding. During this session 
there was a total eclipse of the sun. 

3rd. 1850, Bishop Capers presiding. At this conference 
occurred the famous trial and acquittal of Rev. P. P. Neely. 

4th. 1863, Bishop Paine presiding. At this conference 
the Alabama conference was divided into the Mobile and 
Montgomery conferences, and Columbus fell into the Mobile 
conference 

In 1870 the conference boundary lines were again changed 
and Columbus fell into the north Mississippi conference where 
we have been for the last 30 years. During this period the 
north Mississippi conference has twice held its annual sessions 
in this church. 

The church is at present served by Rev. T. W. Lewis, 
pastor, and the Columbus district by Rev. W. T. J. Sullivan, 
presiding elder, and has an enrollment of 700 members. 

GiD. D. Harris, 
Columbus, Miss., Recording Steward. 

Read Watch Night Service, Dec. 31, 1900. 



96 

PASTORS AND PRESIDING ELDERS. 

For easy future reference the following list of pastors 
and presiding elders is taken from the church record and 
herewith appended: 1831 to 1844 in first church building, 
pastors: Rev. R. H. Herbert (1833), F. H. Jones (1834), D. F. 
Alexander (1835), W. A. Smith (1836), S. B. Sawyer (1837-38), 
W. Murrah (1839), S. B. Sawyer (1840), W. A. Smith (1841), 
T. J. Heard (1842), R. S. Finley, (1843). 

Presiding elders: Eugene V. Levert (1833-34), R. G. 
Christopher (1835), William Weir (1836-39), A. H. Shanks 
(1840), William Murrah (1841-43). Among the members 
not heretofore mentioned who worshipped in the first building 
were the Bartees, Pullers, Eckfords, Holdiness, Saltonstall, 
Richards, Southall, Mullens, Scull, Shaws, Randolph, Bibb, 
Oliver, Spillmans, Fort and Leech. 

1844 TO 1867 SECOND CHURCH BUILDING. 

Pastors: W. Murrah, (1844), G. S. Sparks, (1845), T. H 
Capers, (1846), J. Hamilton, (1847), H. N. McTyeire, (1848) 
O. R. Blue, (1849), P. P. Neely, (1850-51), T. W. Dorman 
(1852-53), J. J. Hutchinson, (1854-55), C. D. Oliver, (1856-57) 
E. Baldwin, (1858-59), R. K. Hargrove, (1860), P. P. Neely 
(1861-62), A. Adams, (1863), A. S. Andrews, (1864-66) 

Presiding Elders: E. Calloway, (1844-47), William Mur 
rah, (1848-50), George ShaefEer, (1851-54), C. M. McLeod 
(1855), George Shaeffer, (1856-57), T. J. Koger, (1858-61) 
George Shaeffer, (1862-64), P. P. Neely, (1865), William Mur- 
rah, (1866). 

1867 TO 1901 IN PRESENT BUILDING. 

W. C. Hearn, (1867-68), T. Y. Ramsey, (1869-70), J. B. 
Cottrell, (1871-73), W. S. Harrison, (1874-75), W. W. Wads- 
worth, (1876-77), T. A. S. Adams, (1878), S. A. Steel, (1879.82), 
J. H. Scruggs, (1883-86), J. W. Price, (1887-88), J. S. Oakley, 
(1889-92), R. M. Standefer, (1893-96), W. T. Bollimg, (1897- 
98), J. A. Bowen, (1899-1900), T. W. Lewis, (1901). 

Presidimg Elders: W. Murrah, (1867), T. Y. Ramsey, 
(1868), T. C. Weir, (1869-70), T. Y. Ramsey, (1870-74), R. G. 
Porter, (1875-78), T. W. Dye, (1879-80). T. C. Weir, (1881- 




COL. THOMAS C. BILLUPS. 

(1804-1866.) 



96 



97 

84), J. D. Cameron, (1885-86), R. G. Porter, (1887), W. T. J. 
Sullivan, (1888-91), T. C. Weir, (1892-95), R. A. Burroughs, 
(1896-99), W. T. J. Sullivan, (1900-01). 

From 1845 to 1855 the membership of the church was 
rapidly increased by the influx of a large number of planters 
from the west side of the river, who moved their homes and 
church membership into Columbus. This increase added 
not only to the numerical strength of the church but also to 
its influence and wealth. The second church building was 
found to be too small for the accomodation of the members 
and their families and visitors who thronged to hear the great 
preachers that during these years occupied its pulpit. 

Among the families that moved in at this period were: 
Morton, Clayton, Billups, Sykes, Harris, Banks, Sherrod, 
Cannons, Powell, Watson, Mason and others. A proposition 
for a new building was received with almost unanimous appro- 
bation and after a short discussion of location, cost, plans, 
etc., the church decided to erect a building large enough not 
only for present but for future usefulness and settled upon the 
present edifice at a cost of $30,000. So harmonious was the 
membership in its erection that the subscription was raised 
upon the assessment plan, and all subscription notes made 
payable in bank. So far as is known not a note or subscrip- 
tion was unpaid and so liberal was the church that after the war 
which interfered with its completion upon a showing by the 
contractors that in the advanced prices of material and labor, 
they had exhausted all contract monies the contractors were 
released from their obligation and bond for its completion. 

THOMAS CARLETON BILLUPS. 

Col. Thomas Carleton Billups was of Welch descent, and was bom 
in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, in the year 1804. He was educated at 
Franklin College, Athens, Ga. He was married to Sarah A. Moore, 
February 25, 1823. He moved from Georgia and settled in Noxubee 
county, Mississippi, in 1835. It was there he buried the companion 
of his youth. 

He was married a second time to Mrs. F. A. Swope, of Alabama, 
on September 13, 1847, about which time he moved to Columbus, Miss. 

Col. Billups was ever one of the foremost men of his county, and 
was prominent in everything pertaining to the interest of his section, 
which he represented several times in the State Legislature. He was 
also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1865, which con- 
vened a few months after the close of the war. This was one of the 

10 



98 

In 1865 the church accepted a loan of $3,000 from that 
generous and devoted Methodist, Mr. Jas. Sykes, which with 
a new subscription, effected the completion of the main audi- 
torium in 1867 and the basement in 1871. The church debt 
was extinguished and the house dedicated by Dr. Atticus 
Haygood (afterwards Bishop), 1877, during the pastorate of 
the Rev. W. W. Wadsworth. 

Historical allusion to the church buildings would be in- 
complete without mention of the names of those staunch 
Methodist builders, Neil Bartee (contractor for second build- 
ing), and James Shaw (contractor for the present), whose 
unimpeachable integrity and faithful workmanship made 
Columbus famous for the beauty and durability of many of 
its public buildings. When the people of Colum.bus knew 
that James Shaw was contractor and Isaac Darter, his fore- 
man, was on the scaffold, they knew that no shoddy work 
was being done and that Columbus pressed brick would 
repeat their record of unsurpassed usefulness and distinction. 

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 

was introduced into the church in 1868 during the pas- 
torate of Rev. Wm. Heam with a Mason & Hamlin cabinet 
organ with Prof. A. Poleman as organist and choister. The 

most important ever held in the history of the State. For strength 
of will, firmness of purpose, and consistency of life he had no superior. 
System and order in every-day business were prominent traits in his 
character. By his superior judgment and energy he amassed a large 
fortune, but this did not divert his attention from the great interests 
of eternity. 

He loved the church most sincerely and was always ready to con- 
tribute to her prosperity with his time, talents and means. 

He aided by his zeal and liberality in the erection of a number of 
houses for the worship of Almighty God, and was especially active as 
Chairman of the Building Committee of the First Methodist Church 
of Columbus, Miss. He was no mere formalist in religion, but 
enjoyed a real experience of grace. 

He abhorred ostentation, and eternity alone will reveal all his 
noble deeds. He was one of those natures to whom the advocates of 
honesty in man, and good in Christianity have always pointed for the 
vindication of the great truths they would advance. It was in his 
home, a typical Southern one, with its colonial architecture, broad 
verandas, and terraced lawn, that he ever dispensed the most generous 
hospitality. 

Col. Billups died at his residence, August .3, 1866. He was sur- 
vived by his wife and five children: John Marshall Billups, Joseph 
Pierce Billups, Susan Billups Sherrod, Thomas Carleton Billups, James 
Saunders Billups. — Editor. 




JA.MES SVKES. 

(180n-1885.) 



ns 



99 

present pipe organ which has been the pride of the church on 
account of the sweetness and perfection of its tone and har- 
mony, was erected in 1878, during the pastorate of Rev. T. 
A. S. Adams, with Mrs. Clifford Hardy as organist. Since that 
time, Mrs. Addie Hunt Owen, Miss Carrie Meek and Prof. 
Howard Teasdale have presided successively over the musical 
department of public worship. The tasteful design and exe- 
cution for the arrangement of the choir, the pulpit, and the 
chancel were the workmanship of W. S. Smith, Methodist and 
architect, to whom Columbus is indebted for many of its 
most elegant and beautiful residences. 

RENTED PEWS. 

In 1873 the church, finding it somewhat difficult to 
raise the annual expenses, adopted as a temporary experiment 
the renting of the pews as a means of relief. The plan was 
signally successful but was discontinued when the church 
debt was paid and the building dedicated. 

DISTINGUISHED CHURCH EVANGELISTS. 

The Rev. John Newlon Maffit, one of the greatest southern 
pulpit orators held a revival meeting in the old Methodist 
church in 1836, with great success. In the second building, 
Father Hirsey, the pedestrian evangelist, the Rev. W. H. 

JAMES SYKES. 

In the earlier days of Columbus the Sykes family was a large and 
influential one. Stability, integrity and capacity characterized its 
members. These were successful in business, careful in expenditures 
and faithful in the discharge of their obligations whether domestic, 
social or religious. Of this virile, black-eyed family came Mr. James 
Sykes. He was born in Virginia in 1810, coming from thence in early 
manhood to Alabama and later to Columbus, where he generously 
aided the religious, educational and material development of the grow- 
ing town. He married a relative, one of the Lanier family. She was 
handsome and imposing in person, genial in manners, kind in heart and 
helpful in every good cause. To them only one child was given, 
James William, who married his second cousin, Marcella, daughter of 
Dr. William Sykes. Only too soon was their happy married life cut 
short, both passing away, leaving two of their four children to attain 
maturity, Wildie, who married Saunders, Billups, and Ida, who mar- 
ried Carleton Billups, sons of Col. Thomas Billups. The present repre- 
sentatives of the families of these brothers are Mrs. John Morgan, Jr., 
Mrs. Charles Westmoreland, Mrs. Robert Carson, Mrs. John Rich- 
ards.Mrs. R. E. Johnston, James Sykes Billups and Thomas Carleton 
Billups. — Editor. 



100 

Milbum, the blind preacher, (afterward chaplain to congress), 
Geo. W. Carter, of Virginia, and W. P. Harrison, (afterwards 
book editor of the M. E. Church South), were transient oc- 
cupants of its pulpits. 

The Rev. Sam Jones, Sam Small, John Culpepper, George 
Stewart, and George Inge, distinguished Methodist evange- 
lists have each held protracted services in the present church 
building. 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

The earliest members of the Episcopal church who settled 
in Lowndes county and in Columbus were Mrs. Sarah Frazier 
Neilson, wife of Capt. Wm. Neilson, who settled Belmont in 
1822, Mrs. Bland Beverly Randolph, wife of Capt. E. B. Ran- 
dolph, who settled Goshen in 1824, Mr. Jack Billington, who 
came to Columbus in 1828 and Mr. Abram Maer in 1832. 

After 1832, quite a number of citizens from the best 
families of Virginia, North Carolina and other states emi- 
grated to Columbus, among whom were the Stantons, Acee, 
Boykin, Lightfoot, Meade, Ross, Whitmed, Evans, Vaughan, 
Walsh, Brownrigg, Long, Ramsay, Chandler, Smith, and 
others, and by 1838 they were able to organize into a strong 
influential and wealthy church. In 1839 they finished a 
large substantial frame church, situated on the northwest 
comer of the lot now occupied by Gen. S. D. Lee. The build- 
ing was 40 by 60 ft. in dimension, painted white with orna- 
mental frieze, open front hall which contained the entrance 
doors into the main auditorium and the stairway to the 
the galleries above. It was well seated with high straight- 
back maple colored pews, with a seating capacity for 350 to 
400 persons. It had galleries on three sides for further ac- 
comodation, and in the west gallery was erected a pipe organ, 
the first ever brought to Columbus; accompanying musicand 
such as chants, anthems, glorias and oratorios were first intro- 
duced into church worship. This church was consecrated 
by Bishop Kemper, of Missouri, in 1839. The first pastor 
was the Rev. Mathis L. Forbes, a young Scotchman, well 
educated, social and friendly in his manner and well adapted 
to the new and mixed population pouring into Columbus. 
He was very popular and had good audiences to hear him 



101 

preach. General Richard T. Brownrigg, a devout and wealthy- 
vestryman, was its first senior warden, and continued in that 
office until his death. 

St. Paul's Episcopal church has been served by the fol- 
lowing pastors, (Ext. church record); Revs. M. L. Forbes, 
George W. Freeman, (afterward bishop of Texas) ; Wm. F. 
Halsey, Benj. M. Miller, (1849) in temporary charge; Edward 
Fontaine (1848), N. P. Knapp, J. H. Ingraham and A. D. 
Corbin; T. S. W. Mott, Robert F. Clute (in temporary charge) 
J. D. Gibson in 1858, John Coleman, J. T. Pickett, J. L. Tucker, 
Jr., Blair Linn, William Munford, W. W. DeHart, (temporary 
charge); J. L. Lancaster, R. Grattan Noland, Wm. H. Bam- 
well, and Walter R. Dye. 

In 1854 the old church was sold, and the city hall rented 
for service, which was shortly afterwards destroyed by fire. 

In 1856, a new church edifice was projected and after 
some delay in its erection, was completed in 1860. This 
building was of brick and in design is a model of symmetry 
and architectual proportion, which, if enlarged in its dimen- 
sions and finish would well resemble a Gothic Cathedral of 
Medieval Europe. 

Its erection and completion was largely due to the liber- 
ality and enterprise of two devoted laymen and vestrymen, 
J. J. Sherman and Gray A. Chandler, men who had already 
made their mark in the financial and commercial development 
of Columbus from a very early date in its history. Mr. J. J. 
Sherman was for a score of years its senior warden. This 
building was consecrated Dec. 15th, 1860, by Bishop Wilham 
M. Green, of Mississippi. 

The church is handsomely seated and well furnished, 
with a pipe organ, which was obtained very largely through 
the active agency of Miss Jeannie Vaughan, daughter of Dr. 
B. A. Vaughn, whose fine taste and deft fingers have con- 
tributed much to the ornamentation of the church. 

In 1899 the church erected a fine modem building for 
Sunday school and social purposes, which adds much to the 
comfort and pleasure of the congregation. The pastor. Rev. 
W. R. Dye, resides in a comfortable, well appointed rectory 
situated on the same lot with the church. 



102 



Col. W. C. Richard is its present senior warden and a 
flourishing "Altar Guild" is active in its attention to the wants 
of the church. 

The Right Rev. Hugh S. Miller Thompson is the bishop 
of the diocese of Mississippi in which St. Paul's church is 
located. 





HikST PkESBVTEKIAN CHURCH. 



102 



103 



CHAPTER XII.— Continued. 

RELIGIOUS; CHURCHES AND BENEVOLENT 
SOCIETIES. 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

In 1818, the Presbyterian church, through the agency of 
its American board of foreign missions, established a mission 
to the Choctaw Indians, located in what is now Oktibbeha 
county, and on the road leading from Starkville to Columbus, 
about three miles west of Tibbee station on the M. and O. 
railroad, and two or three miles south of Tibbee creek, the 
dividing line between the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. 

They called the mission "Mayhew" after the prairie by 
that name in the border of which it was located and after 
one of the early Choctaw chiefs. 

According to Claiborne's History of Mississippi, the fol- 
lowing persons and their families were engaged in the establish- 
ment and service of the Mayhew missions, viz: Rev. Messrs. 
Cyrus Kingsbury, Cyrus Byington, Gleason, Hooper Towse, 
Cushman, also Dr. Pride and Misses Bumham, Foster, and 
Thacker. In other records the following names appear: 
David Wright, Martin Sims, (Interpreter,) Alfred Wright, 
Loving S. Williams, and Ebenezer Hotchkins. The three 
last named, in 1831 and 1832, removed with the Indians to 
their reservation in the Indian Territory west of the Missis- 
sippi River, and in 1836 were followed by Drs. Kingsbury 
and Byington, who remained in that service until the time 
of their deaths. 

During the continuance of the Mayhew mission, Columbus 
was its post office and base of supplies, and was indebted to 
its ministers for much of its earliest religious advantages. 

The Synod of Mississippi and south Alabama, in whose 
jurisdiction the Columbus church was situated, held its first 
meeting on the second Wednesday of November, 1829, and 
the present Mississippi Synod was separated therefrom in 
1842. The Tombeckbee Presbytery, in which Columbus was 
also situated, was established by order of the Synod of South 
Carolina and Georgia at its session in Charleston in December, 



104 

1828, ordered to hold its first session at Mayhew in June. 1829, 
the meeting to be opened with a sermon by the Rev. Alfred 
Wr ght. After several changes the Tombeckbee Presbytery 
was placed in the jurisdiction of the Synod of Mississippi. 

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN COLUMBUS. 

On the first Sabbath in May, 1829, the Presbyterian 
church of this city was duly organized by Revs. Cyrus Kings- 
bury, Thos. Archibald, Hilary Patrick and David Wright, 
ordained missionaries from Mayhew mission by the transfer 
of the following members from Mayhew church to Columbus, 
viz: Henry W. Hunt, Wm. H. Craven, Daniel Oliver, John 
J. Humphries. Eliza W. Craven, Eliza Wright, Mrs. Daniel 
Oliver and Mary H. Hand. 

The following members were ordained and installed as 
elders: Maj. Wm. H. Craven and Henry W. Hunt. This 
church having no house of worship, was served irregularly 
in the old Franklin Academy by missionaries from Mayhew 
until 1834, they established themselves in the old Masonic 
hall with the Rev. David Wright as first pastor. The church 
had increased to thirty members, among whom were Maj. 
Benj. Toomer, Robert C. Warner, Mary Eleanor Craven, 
Eliza Ball, Eliza Ervin, Jane Abert, Elizabeth Timberlake 
and Drennon Love and wife. At this time Wm. H. Craven 
and Maj. Toomer were ruling elders. 

The Rev. David Wright continued to serve this church 
until 1837, at which time he was succeeded by the Rev. Isaac 
Reid. 

In 1836 the first steps were taken by a few ladies towards 
the building of a house of worship, which resulted in the erec- 
tion of the walls and roof of a church edifice in 1837 and 38, 
during the ministry of Rev. Isaac Reid. 

Pertinent to the history of the church at this particular 
time, the following extract from a letter of the Rev. David 
Wright, dated Columbus, Miss., Oct., 26, 1837, is here inserted: 
"We have all been very busy for the last few weeks in attending 
upon the meetings of Presbytery and Synod, which have 
just closed. We had many ministers here from all parts of 
south Alabama and north Mississippi." * * * * 




CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



101 



105 

"I have been very much engaged in building our meeting 
house of late; we have the basement story up. It is of brick 
66 by 45 feet, 2 stories high; the basement devoted to a Sab- 
beth School and lecture room; the second story entirely to 
the solemn duties of the sanctuary. We hope to have it up 
so that we can worship in the basement story after January." 
* * * "Uncle Reid has gone to the Bible class." 

The basement was partially completed so as to be used 
by the congregation during the last year of Mr. Reid's pas- 
torate. This building was located on a lot donated to the 
church by Maj. Wm. H. Craven, which fronted on Caledonia 
Street and in the rear of the main audience room of the present 
church. 

Judge John Perkins, a wealthy Presbyterian of Louisiana, 
who spent his summers at the "Oaks," eight miles above 
Columbus, was the largest subscriber to its erection. 

The financial crash of 1837 destroyed the ability of many 
of its members to pay their subscriptions and left the church 
heavily involved in debt, and unable to complete its erection. 

Mr. Reid resigned his pastorate in April, 1839, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. Thos. Morrow, of Alabama, who sup- 
plied the church twice a month during a part of tne years 
1839 and 1840. 

In 1840, in addition to the incumbrance of a heavy debt, 
the church suffered with a difference in its members as to the 
doctrines of the New and Old School Presbyterian churches, 
which resulted in the withdrawal of some of its members, 
prominent among whom was Mr. Levi Donnell, who connected 
himself with the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Mr. Levi 
Donnell, was favorably known by many of the present citizens 
of Columbus as one of its oldest and most substantial citizens 
and as Mayor of the city for a score of years. 

At this juncture the church was visited by the Rev. Mr. 
Scott, afterwards the celebrated Dr. Scott, then pastor of 
the Presbyterian church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., who, seeing the 
condition of affairs and necessities of the case, insisted on 
the employment of a regular pastor, and recommended the 
Rev. J. A. Lyon, of Rogersville, Tenn., a graduate of Washing- 
ton College, Tenn., and Princeton Theological Seminary. 

11 



106 

The Rev. J. A. Lyon was called in May, 1841, and assumed 
charge of the church in October, 1841. 

Maj. Richard Barry and Maj. Wm. Craven assumed the 
debt of the church and Dr. Lyon's first effort was to complete 
the basement, his next to procure a bell and build cupola, 
and last to complete the audience room. Finally the whole 
was completed and on the first Sabbath of Sept., 1844, the 
audience chamber was in dae form, solemnly dedicated to 
the worship of Almighty God. 

In 1841, Dr. Lyon finding no Sunday school in existence, 
insisted upon an immediate effort to organize one. This 
work was promptly undertaken by Mrs. Richard Barry and 
Miss Lizzie Blair, now the oldest, and an invalid, member of 
the church in her eighty-second year, and in October in 1841 
they succeeded in gathering together twenty scholars and 
organized a Sunday school, with Thos. Christian as Super- 
intendent, and N. E. Goodwin as secretary and librarian. 

In 1845 there was an extensive revival of religion in the 
church and many additions were made to its membership. In 
1847, Dr. Lyon's health having failed, he resigned and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. S. R. Frierson, a graduate of the Theologi- 
cal Seminary of South Carolina. Mr. Frierson's health failing, 
he resigned and the Rev. Dr. Lyon (then of St. Louis, Mo.) was 
recalled, and in October, 1854, commenced his second pastorate 
which position he held until 1870, when he was called to oc- 
cupy the chair of Moral Philosophy in the State University 
at Oxford. During his ministry the church enjoyed several 
important revivals of religion and quite a number were added 
to the communion. When he took charge in 1841 the com- 
municants numbered about fifty. When he left it under his 
second pastorate there were about one hundred fifty on the 
roll. 

The pulpit from this time remained vacant for seventeen 
months, when the Rev. H. B. Boude, of Gallatin, Tenn., was 
called to the pastorate in the month of February, 1872, and 
closed in the early part of 1875. In April, 1876, he was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. J. D. McClintock, of Kentucky, who was 
called as a stated supply, and after twelve months accepted the 
pastorate of the church. He continued its faithful and accep- 
table pastor until his death, which sad event took place Dec. 



107 

12th, 1881, and was buried in Friendship Cemetery. He 
was succeeded by the Rev. R. B. Mc Alpine, who was installed 
as pastor Jan. 14, 1883. During the pastorate of the Rev. 
Mr. McAlpine, the old church, which had been in use for forty 
years, was deemed unsuitable for the wants and tastes of the 
church and congregation, and the new church edifice was 
projected after the most modern style of architecture and 
containing all the modem improvements. 

The corner stone was laid in October, 1884, with appro- 
priate ceremonies conducted by its pastor and the other pas- 
tors of the city and it was formerly dedicated in 1894. 

The Presbyterians of Columbus have reason to be proud 
of this elegant, commodious and well arranged building, 
containing a main audience room, Sunday school room, and 
pastors study, equal in finish and furniture with the best 
churches of our Southern towns: Mr. McAlpine resigned his 
pastorate in 1887, and was succeeded by Rev. J. W. Rose- 
borough, who served the church from 1888 to February, 1894, 
In May, 1894, Rev. W. S. Jacobs was elected and installed 
as pastor and continued until October, 1899, when he resigned 
to accept the pastorate of the Woodland Street Presbyterian 
church in Nashville, Tenn. 

In April, 1900, the present incumbernt, the Rev. Dunbar 
H. Ogden, a highly educated and devotedly pious young 
graduate of the Southern Presbyterian University was called 
and installed as pastor in June, 1900. 

The church at this time has 345 members and is served 
by the following officers: 

Elders— J. L. S. Albright, Geo. W. Abert, W. A. Campbell, 
J. D. Hutchinson, Wm. Kilpatrick, A. A. Kincannon, W. H. 
Lee, Jno. A. Neilson, J. A. Orr. 

Deacons — ^W. D. Humphries, Chairman; C. C. Buder, 
A. E. Love, J. P. Mayo, J. M. McQuown, Hampden Osborne, 
S. B. Street, J. A. Stinson, J. T. Wood, and C. H. Ayres. 

CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

In 1836 or 1837, Columbus was visited by the Rev. Isaac 
Shook, an evangelist of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
who held a series of meetings which resulted in an extensive 
revival of religion and the establishment of the present church. 



108 

Among the members of this church who lived in Columbus 
at that time were Mrs. E. Love and family, William Worrell 
and family, Jefferson Garvin and family, E. B. Gaston and 
family, M. Howard and family, Wm. Stephenson and family, 
Mrs. Kirsey and family, and J. K. Pierce and family. These 
were followed at a later date by Levi Donnell, John S. Topp, 
Jonathan Dechard, T. J. Ridley, and others. 
Rev. Isaac Shook was elected first pastor and steps were 
immediately taken to erect a church building, the basement 
of which was ready for use in 1840, and the main audience 
room was completed some years after. This church occupied 
the site of the present building. During the pastorate of 
the Rev. Isaac Shook, the church was prosperous and received 
many additions to its membership. 

In 1841 occurred the famous debate between the learned 
infidel, Prof. C. G. Olmsted and Rev. James Smith, a minister 
of the C. P. Church, mentioned in a previous chapter. 

Rev. Isaac Shook was succeeded by Rev. J. N. Roach, 
a scholarly and popular preacher who was followed in 1849 
by Rev. J. C. Bowden. Its next pastor was Rev. T. J. Fox, 
who was followed by Rev. G. T. Stainback, who resigned his 
pastorate in 1868. He was recalled in 1879 and resigned 
again in 1882. He was pastor of this church for about twenty 
years, and during his pastorate the church reached its highest 
prosperity. He was beloved by all denominations and by 
the people of Columbus generally. He filled several of the 
best Southern pulpits, Memphis included, and was the Moder- 
ator of the General Assembly. He is pastor at this time of a 
church in Dyersburg, Tenn. 

The next pastor was the Rev. J. M. Keaton (1883), who 
was followed by the Rev. G. T. Stainback, Rev. P. T. Charlton, 
(1884) and J. D. Boydston (1886). In 1886, the old building 
having been struck twice by lightning, was deemed unsafe 
and plans for a new church were projected. After several 
years delay the present neat and commodious structure was 
begun in 1889, after a design by W. S. Smith, architect, and 
completed in 1891. From 1888 to the present time the church 



109 

has been served by the following pastors, J. D. Black, R. H. 
Sanders (1891), J. T. Hood (1894), W. C. Baber (1895), H. S. 
Johnson (1897), and J. C. Amette (1900). The present ruling 
Elders are Mrs. Rosa Richards, Messrs J. H. ShuU, E. F. Hear- 
on, P. N. Ellis. 




no 

CHAPTER XII.— Continued. 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

In 1840, in the center of the square on the south side 
of Main Street opposite the Gilmer hotel, there stood a long 
frame building, erected for a store house, but converted into 
what was called in Columbus at that time "The Theatre." 
The theatre had in it all the appointments and arrangements 
usual in a theatre of that date such as stage, scenery, drop 
curtain, foot lights, orchestra, pit, dress circle, etc., and in 
it traveling theatre companies entertained the people with 
dramatic performances. But this theatre was more specially 
and oftener used as a place for school exhibitions and per- 
formances of local Thespian societies and dramatic clubs. 
It was also a place where lyceums and debating societies 
held their stated meetings. 

At this date there were no public halls in Columbus and 
the court house was small and not seated. In consequence 
preachers and lecturers from abroad were obliged to use tne 
theatre in their addresses to the people. Among the preachers 
who visited Columbus was the Rev. Tolbert Fanning, a mem- 
ber of the Christian church, well educated, of extraordinary 
preaching ability, strong character, and indefatigable in 
work. He was the first minister of this church who had 
visited Columbus and his doctrines were new and in a large 
degree different from the established denominations of the 
town. He attracted large audiences and interested the people 
in the bold discussions of his subjects. He gathered around 
him all the citizens who had been connected with this church 
in their former homes and many persons who were converted 
through the instrumentality of his ministry, and thus in 
this building was the origin and began the organization of 
the Christian church in Columbus. 

One of the immediate results of Mr. Fanning's series 
of meetings was a debate between himself and the Rev. James 
Lyon on the subject of "baptism," a discussion regarded by 
the citizens of Columbus as ably maintained on both sides 
and exceedingly interesting and instructive to those who 



Ill 

heard it. The debate took place in the C. P. church in 184-. 
Among the members who were organized into the first Christ- 
ian church, are the names of the following persons, which 
have been collected from such data as was obtainable, viz: 

H. S. Bennett and family, Isaac and Ephraim Darter, 
Mrs. Hardy Stevens, Mrs. L. M. Hatch, O. H. Millican, Wil- 
liam Baker, J. H. Lambert, I. M. Boswell, Green Hill, W. H. 
D. Carrington, Mrs. Patterson, Dr. M. Estes, Misses Bell, 
Mrs. Frances Benoit, Alex Moore, Jacob Isaacs, Mrs. Coving- 
ton, Mrs. Sarah Femandis, Wm. Duncan, Mrs. Nat Mitchell, 
Misses McEwen, James and William Taylor, Daniel Williams, 
Mrs. H. P. Goodrich, Mrs. Jane Allen, George Saunders, Sam- 
uel Kline, Mrs. George Stillman, Mrs. Harrison Johnston, 
and Maj. John Gilmer. 

In addition to these, they received a number of members 
from other churches. Green Hill was the first bishop and 
Alex Moore one of the first deacons. For a time they held 
their services in the old theatre and were suppled with preach- 
ing by transient brethren and pastors from other places. The 
Rev. W. H. Muse, from Huntsville, Ala., was employed for 
a time about the year 1845, and among the transient brethren 
who held religious services were Alex Graham, Dr. B. F. Hall, 
J. R. McCall, James Deans and others. 

This church was itself the parent of three young preachers 
of piety, gifts and preaching ability, W. H. D. Carrington, 
Robert Ussery, and Dr. M. Estes, who faithfully served the 
church every Sabbath when there was no ordained preacher 
to officiate. In fact the church looks back with pride and 
satisfaction to the fact that during its early life, without 
stated house of worship and a regular pastorate, they kept 
up religious services and "broke the loaf" every Lord's day. 

About 1849, the church received from Mr. Eli Abbott 
the ground upon which its present church building now stands. 
Steps were immediately taken to erect a permanent place 
of worship, and in a year or more the present commodious 
and remarkably well built and comfortable edifice was com- 
pleted. 

The Rev. J. H. Curtis was called to be its pastor in 1871. 
The church has been served since that time by the following 
pastors: J. J. Haley (1878), with Ira Boswell and W. T. John- 



112 

son as bishops, and James A. Stevens and H. C. Goodrich as 
deacons; Rev. Knowles Shaw (1877-78), the singing evange- 
list and distinguished preacher who drew great crowds to 
attend on his ministry, to hear him sing and listened to his 
unsurpassed temperance addresses; J. J. Jolly, B. F. Manier, 
Miller, W. G. Harbin, T. L. Young, J. M. Pickens, Dr. W. H. 
Brown, John Friend, John H. McQuery and G. A. Reynolds, 
W. E. Hall, S. B. Benbrook, and H. G. Flemming. This 
church has been highly favored by the visitation of some of 
their most distinguished preachers, among whom were the 
great Alexander Campbell, who preached for them several 
weeks in 185-, and several days his second visit in 186-, Rev. 
Tolbert Fanning, president of Fanning College, Tenn.; the 
Rev. Dr. Moffett, missionary secretary of the Christian church, 
Jacob Creath, James Edmonds, Moses E. Lard, J. B. Briney, 
P. B. Lawson, Homer Wilson, Robert Graham, Wm. Ussery, 
John A. Stevens and James Sharp, Dr. B. B. Tyler, Wm. 
Sewell, Dr. A. C. Henry and Junius Wilkins. 

At present the church has no pastor and its officers are 
as follows: Joseph H. Stevens, bishop; J. M. Easton, J. W. 
Bealle, and F. S. Kemp, deacons.* 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The earliest Catholics who came to Columbus were Miss 
Mary Martin, afterwards Mrs. Peter Yost, and Miss Boyle, 
afterwards first wife of W. N. Monroe. Then followed the 
Hurys, Mahons, Kreckers, Doughertys, Galvins, and Connollys. 
Prior to 1863 these Catholic families were served by Father 
Bolheme, of Paulding, Miss., who afterwards served as chap- 
lain in the Confederate army. He died before the termination 
of hostilities and was buried in Richmond. Religious ser- 
vices were held in the homes of Messrs. Galvin and Connolly 
and Mrs. Monroe. 

In 1863 Father Mouton was sent to Columbus and he 
proceeded at once to the erection of the present church after 
a design of his own. Father Mouton belonged to the order 
of architects in the Catholic church. He was not able, for 

♦During the war, when the State government " refugeed " from 
Jackson, the lower house convened in the court house and the Senate 
in the Christian Church. — Editor. 




ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



112 



113 

lack of funds, to complete the building according to the original 
design and it still remains in an unfinished state. Some idea 
of its design and beauty may be seen in its highly finished 
and architecturally proportioned interior. 

Father Mouton was one of the most popular and highly 
appreciated pastors in Columbus. He was affable and courte- 
ous and much beloved by all religious denominations and the 
public generally. 

He was succeeded by Rev. Jno. McManus. Both of 
these priests died with yellow fever; Father Mouton in Yazoo 
City and Father McManus in Vicksburg. 

The first baptism that occurred in this church was a 
child in the Hury family. 

The Rev. Father Blanc, now of Bay St. Louis, came after 
Father McManus and then Rev. P. C. Hayden, now pastor 
of the Cathedral of Natchez, who remained here for twelve 
years, and is still happily remembered by our citizens. 

The others who served since his time were Fathers Hahn, 
July, O. Love, McConkey, Hippell, and Father Bernard 
O'Reilly (1901), who is the present incumbent.* 

The Hurys, Galvins, Connollys, Kreckers, and Mahons 
are still among its prominent and honored membership. 

This church was visited at one time by Right Rev. Bishop 
Elder, now Archbishop of Cincinnati, who preached to large 
congregations and is well remembered by the people of Colum- 
bus for his scholarly and religious sermons. 

Rev. Father Laurent, of Baltimore, an eloquent and 
gifted divine, is holding a series of meetings in the Catholic 
church at this time. 

THE JEWISH CHURCH. 

The Jews began to settle in Columbus as early as 1840 
and finding the town to be a profitable place for business, 
and its citizens liberal to all sects and nationalities, have 
continued to come until they now number more than two 
hundred persons and are among our most highly respected 
and patriotic citizens. 



Note— From July, 1902, Hippel; June, 1908, Rev. P. Sylvester 
Yoerg, O. S. B.— Editor. 
12 



114 

The first Jews who came to Columbus were the Hoffmans 
and Crusmans who came in 1840. These were followed by 
Nathan, Gross, Lorsch, Schwartz and Rowtch. 

The Jews had no regular Rabbi but were served occasion- 
ally by two of their laymen, Messrs. Katz and Wolfe, until 
April 9th, 1881 Rabbi J. Herz took charge of the congregation. 
He soon succeeded in establishing the present elegant and 
modemly finished synagogue in which services are regularly 
held and the customs and tenets of the Jewish church are 
conformed to. Subsequently the Jewish congregation pur- 
chased and handsomely remodeled the brick church built 
by the Methodists in 1844. 

Rabbi Herz is a preacher of ability and is most highly 
esteemed on account of his great liberality and kindness to 
the people of Columbus. The ministers of the different 
churches take great pleasure in acknowledging assistance from 
him in their ministerial labors. 

The Jews of Columbus have exhibited their patriotic 
spirit by enlistment as soldiers in the Columbus companies 
and doing their full duty in camp and on the battle field. 

BAPTIST CHURCH. 

[Note — The writer desires to express his sincere thanks to Mr 
E. C. Chapman, Clerk of the Baptist Church, for the extract below' 
taken from its records, and also to Mrs. Ann Franklin for permission 
to use her well written and highly endorsed " Reminiscences of the 
Baptist Church " 

Columbus, Miss., Feb. 9, 1901.] 

To the pastor and members of the Baptist church, Colum- 
bus, Miss. : 

Your committee appointed to prepare suitable resolu- 
tions expressing our thanks for the historical sketch of our 
church, written by the oldest and one of the most honored 
members, Sister Ann E. Franklin, beg to make the following 
report : 

Whereas, Sister Franklin being the oldest living member 
of this church did write a full and correct history of this church 
from its early history up to the present time, giving in regular 
line of succession the different pastors serving here. 

Resolved, 1st. That this church does thank Sister 
Franklin for this very valuable paper. 




MRS. ANN CAMFHKLL FRANKLIN 



114 



115 

2nd. That a page in our church minutes be set apart, 
and that paper be inscribed therein. 

3rd. That this church does most heartily congratulate 
our beloved Sister Franklin on her advanced age, her fidelity 
to this church and her ripened Christian experience, and 
wish her many years of usefulness in the Master's cause. 

4th. That a page in the minutes be set apart for these 
resolutions and they be a part of the records of this church. 
5th. That a copy of these resoljtions be sent to Sister 
Franklin. 

R. S. Curry, 
Jas. T. Harrison, 
Martin Treasdale, 

Committee. 

REMINISCENCES OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The Baptist church of Columbus was organized in 1832. 
The charter members as far as I remember, were Maj. Thomas 
G. Blewett, Thomas McGee, the Gibsons, and Warrens. 

They were for several years without a house of worship, 
services being held in the Masonic Temple, which was also 
used as a school for young ladies, and presided over by Mr. 
Wright, a Presbyterian minister, the father of Mrs. Laura 
Eager, so long connected with the Franklin Academy. 

The Masonic Temple was situated on the southwest 
corner of Major Blewett's lot, now General Stephen D. Lee's 
flower garden. 

The other denominations, with the exception of the Metho- 
dists, who had the only church in town, held their services 
in the Franklin Academy. 

The membership of the church had increased so greatly 
under Dr. George Tucker, its first pastor, that in 1838 it was 
decided to build a church, and in the spring of that year the 
corner stone was laid. 

The first thing was to secure a suitable lot. After some 
delay in looking around the present site was selected, the 
price paid was $5,000.00, with nothing on the lot but a little 
log cabin, which was literally a bower of the old fashioned 
multiflora rose, and was occupied at that time, as many old 
citizens will remember, by Miss Maria Morse, who had an 



116 

infant school, and taught many a generation of Columbus 
their A. B. C's. 

The strip of ground between the Baptist and old Metho- 
dist church (now Concert Hall) was owned by Col. McLaren, 
a Baptist and wealthy citizen of his day. He made an equal 
division of the land, giving half to the Baptist and half to 
the Methodists, which was his wife's church. 

Major Blewett was the moving spirit in all that pertained 
to the upbuilding of the Baptist denomination in Columbus 
and with his indomitable energy, his vast fortune and princely 
generosity, he became the ruling spirit of the new church. 
At the time of its completion his contribution amounted to 
$18,000.00, and as long as he lived his purse strings were 
ever open to the Baptist cause. 

Major Blewett had many able co-workers: Gov. Whit- 
field, the Gibsons, Blounts, Armstrongs, Walthalls, and many 
others. Later on they were joined by Dr. Franklin, who 
was senior deacon for many years before his death. Isham 
Harrison, Dr. Thomas Mayo, Dr. Jones, Mr. Marquis, Mr. 
Whitfield, St., Mr. Canfield and John Morgan, Sr., Dr. Tali- 
aferro and Mr. Krecker, who, with his estimable, wife led 
the singing for many years before we had an organ. 

Our present organ was bought just before the war, when 
Dr. Teasdale was pastor. 

They were two years in building the church, and at the 
time of its completion it was the largest and handsomest 
church edifice in Mississippi, if not in the entire South. 

Major Blewett presented the old bell that still hangs 
in the dome. It has pealed the wedding chimes, it has tolled 
the funeral knell of generations dead and gone, and it but 
recently chanted the requiem of the dying century. 

The magnificent silver communion service, also a gift 
of Major Blewett, has recently been added to by the gener- 
osity of Mrs. Eugenia Moore, daughter of the late senior 
deacon, John Morgan, who was one of the pillars of the church. 

At one time in its history the old church was used for 
another purpose than a place of worship. After the battle 
of Shiloh, when thousands of our wounded soldiers were 
brought to Columbus, it was converted into a hospital and 
hundreds and hundreds of soldiers were cared for there, and 



117 

many a brave soul winged its flight into the eternal realm 
above from the walls of the dear old historic church. 

The elegant carpets that covered the church were taken 
up and cut into squares to use as blankets for the soldiers. 

We had no baptistry until long after the war; we were 
decidedly river Baptists, baptizing at the foot of Main street, 
just under the present bridge. 

During Mr. Goodwin's pastorate, James T. Harrison, 
St., presented us the much needed baptistry as a token of 
his love for the Baptist cause. 

The following ministers have, since its organization, 
presided over the destinies of the church successively : Tucker, 
Bailey, Walthall, Armstrong, Crane, McLeod (a supply preach- 
er who only filled the pulpit a few months), Tichenor, Russell, 
Buck, Teasdale, Sears (also a supply preacher who refugeed 
here after the battle of Donelsonville, and as our pulpit was 
vacant at that time preached for us during the winter), Bestor, 
Cason, Goodwin, Battle, Taylor, Dobbs, Johnson, Jones, and 
our present well-beloved minister, A. J. Miller. 

The present corps of deacons are Gen. Stephen D. Lee, 
F. M. Jacob, J. L. Walker, James T. Harrison, A. A. Wofford, 
T. O. Burris, B. L. Owen, and J. A. Goree. 

The Columbus Association held its sessions here several 
times and the state convention three times. In 1881, during 
the pastorate of Henry W. Battle, who was ordained in this 
church, the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest 
religious bodies in the world, were entertained here most roy- 
ally. There were about eight hundred delegates in attendance, 
all the churches were thrown open for their deliberations and 
all the private homes for their entertainment. 

I have given this little history of the church just as I recol- 
lect it through the changes and vicissitudes of sixty-nine years, 
it being ten years my junior, and if I haven't things just as 
they were, I can't find any one old enough to correct me. 

Ann C. Franklin. 

Columbus, Miss., Jan. 27, 1901. 



118 

A DISTINGUISHED BAPTIST LAYMAN. 

History cannot make facts. Men make facts and his- 
tory records them. The brightest pages in history are the 
records of the deeds of good men. Among the good men 
who made the historic city of Columbus luminous with his 
deeds, stands the name of Major Thomas G. Blewett. Major 
Blewett was not one of those pioneers who sought locations 
in the rich prairies of Mississippi to make a home and a fortune 
for himself. He had an old ancestral home and abundant 
wealth before he left South CaroHna, the land of patriotism, 
statesmanship and nobility . 

A young man of fortune, he wisely concluded the ex- 
hausted sandy plains and hills of his native state were not 
the place for agricultural success. In the fall of 1832 he came 
to Mississippi, lured hither by the fame of the rich lands just 
vacated by the Choctaw Indians, and after examination 
purchased a large body of land, the homestead and residence 
of Mashulatubbee, the great Choctaw Chief, and on which 
grew the famous oak under which was held the great council 
of the Choctaw chiefs to hear the celebrated warrior of the 
west, Tecumseh, who urged them to engage themselves in 
alliance against the whites and especially against the Ameri- 
cans, who were then at war with the British in the War of 
1812. 

These lands were situated on the old Military road, cut 
by the troops of Andrew Jackson in 1815, and in the northern 
part of Noxubee and southern part of Lowndes county. He 
spent a year opening lands and building houses for his family 
and slaves, which were occupied by them in the fall of 1833. 

In 1835 Major Blewett moved his family to Columbus, 
Mississippi, and built for them a residence equal to the best 
in the town, situated on the square now known as Merchant's 
Block, and included two-thirds of its eastern portion. He 
resided here two years. During his residence here began that 
life of intelligent wisdom and large liberality which placed 
him foremost among the patriotic citizens and unselfish phil- 
anthropists of Columbus. In going to and from his planta- 
tions he found himself and the citizens of Lowndes county 
inconvenienced by a toll ferry boat on the Luxapalila. He 




MAI. THOMAS BLKWETT. 



u 



119 

asked permission of the county to build a bridge across 
that stream free to all its citizens, reserving only a right to 
receive toll from non-residents. The result was a strong, 
well covered lattice bridge, the model after which the Green 
Hill bridge was built. In 1837 it was open for public use, 
with appropriate ceremonies and a sumptuous barbecue, 
prepared at his own expense and attended by thousands of 
citizens. This was the first substantial bridge ever built 
in north Mississippi. 

Soon afterwards he grew tired of the encroachments 
of trade and publicity of his home, and bought from the Rev. 
David Wright, the square on which he lived until his death, 
now owned by Gen. S. D. Lee, who married his grand-daughter, 
Miss Regina Harrison. He did not sell his first residence, 
but rolled it up to a point on Washington, or College Stre'et, 
and by adding long wings east and west and south built the 
Blewett House, a hotel famous in after years for being the 
rendezvous of the state candidates and politicians. From 
the steps of its portico three gallant companies of soldiers 
organized in Columbus, who went to the Mexican war in 
1846-7 and to the Confederate war in 1861, received their 
battle flags from the fair hands of three of Columbus' most 
gifted women, Misses Bettie Goff, Passie Butler, and Clara 
Shields. 

In 1838, with that fine scholar and educator, Mr. Abram 
Maer, and a board of trustees composed of the very best and 
wealthiest citizens of Columbus, he, being president of the 
board, projected and built the Mississippi Female College, 
the first college, male or female north of Jackson, in the state 
of Mississippi. 

Maj. Thos. G. Blewett was a devoted Baptist, and that 
denomination having no place of worship, his great heart 
was stirred, and by a subscription equal in amount to that 
subscribed by all others, he projected the erection of a Bap- 
tist church in his Columbus home. His ambitions and archi- 
tectural taste aspired to a structure modeled after the classic 
temples of Greece, and he achieved success in a building second 
to none in the State. 

Its classic portico, supported by its Corinthian columns 
with chapiter and base, suggests the entrance to the old state 



120 

capitol at Jackson or the St. Charles hotel in New Orleans, 
while its graceful steeple, like some tall poplar, lifts its aspiring 
head in beauty against the Heaven's blue dome. He stopped 
at no expense to make its appointments complete, and to 
this day the Baptist church stands a monument of what the 
unselfish and abounding beneficence of one of her citizens 
has done for his denomination and the city of Columbus. 

In 1848 he was again a liberal contributor and trustee 
to the establishment and support of the Columbus Female 
Institute. In 1858, when destroyed by fire, he was again 
the leading subscriber for its rebuilding. 

In 1847 he built for himself a spacious and palatial man- 
sion after an Italian model with brick made by his own masons 
and lumber wrought by his own mechanics, under his own 
immediate supervision. 

In 1862 his youngest son, Capt. Randle Blewett, having 
raised a company to take part in the great Confederate war, 
his noble and patriotic father generously armed, uniformed 
and equipped the whole company at his own expense, only 
to see his gallant boy fill a soldier's grave in one of the great 
battles of Virginia. 

He bore the great losses caused by the Confederate war, 
which included 500 slaves, like a Christian philosopher, and 
accommodated himself to the changed condition of life without 
a murmur or complaint. 

His vigorous and well preserved constitution resisted 
the encroachments of disease and age until he was eighty-two 
years old, and then after a short, severe illness, he met death 
like a Christian hero with all the confidence and hope of his 
religious faith. 

In an interview with the Rev. George Shaeffer, a warm 
Methodist friend, just before his death, he said, "Brother 
Shaeffer, I have shown you how a Baptist could live, and now 
I will show you how a Baptist can die." 

The irreproachable character of Major Thos. G. Blewett 
in his public and private life and his rigid adherence to honor,' 
honesty, and truth placed him much above the common level 
of men. His cheerful disposition and genial manners relieved 
the strictness of his high moral standard, and made him one 
of the kindest of friends and best of citizens. He was pure 




FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, l'J08. 



120 



121 

in heart, upright in life, extravagant in charities, and grand 
in death. He died in Columbus, Miss., May 2, 1871. 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 1902. 

The First Baptist church was organized in the early 30's, 
and the present building was constructed at a cost of $28,000 
in 1839. It can seat 600 worsnippers. 

The church has always been well conducted, and was 
never in a more prosperous condition. All departments are 
in successful operation. Its membership, which now numbers 
377, has invariably included many of the most representative 
Columbus citizens. The deacons at present are: Gen. S. D. 
Lee, F. M. Jacob, J. L. Walker, W. W. Woflord, J.T. Harrison 
(Lieutenant-Governor of Mississippi), T. O. Burris, J. A. 
Goree, W. N. Puckett. The church is under the efficient 
pastorate of Rev. A. J. Miller, a pulpit speaker of force, and 
a consecrated man who numbersn one but friends among the 
people of Columbus. 

E. C. Chapman is treasurer; B. A. Lincoln is clerk, and 
Miss Annie L. Long, organist. 

The flourishing Sabbath school enrolls 190 pupils. The 
B. Y. P. U. and the junior organization are strong and active, 
as may be said of the ladies' organization, the Armstrong 
Society, of which Mrs. Dan Richards is president and Mrs. 
Bettie Gaston secretary. Two years ago the pastorium, or 
parsonage was erected at a cost of $2,500.* 



♦Note — In 1908, during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Hewett, a com- 
ious and elegant new church building was erected by the Baptists. 



modious and elegant new 
— Editor. 
13 



122 



CHAPTER XIII. 
COLUMBUS DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 

THE soldiers' GRAVES LADIES' MONUMENTAL ASSOCIATION 

DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY. 

The history of Columbus, Miss., during the Civil War 
is unique and interesting — unique in that it was never at- 
tacked or captured by the Federal army during the entire 
war. No hostile flag ever floated over its beautiful homes, 
no house was ever burned or building looted by a conquering 
foe. It escaped the immediate horrors and ravages of war, 
which fact was not true of any other city or town of its size 
in the State of Mississippi, and notwithstanding the farther 
fact that 238 battles were fought on Mississippi soil. 

From the very date of secession to the close of the war, 
Columbus was the scene of great excitement and the bustle 
and hurry of active warlike preparation. Intensely patriotic, 
its volunteer companies were among the very first to tender 
their services to the State and to the Confederacy. On Jan. 
11th, 1861, only a few days after the secession of Mississippi, 
two companies from Columbus and one from Lowndes county, 
having received sealed orders from Gov. J. Pettus, proceeded 
by rail to Mobile, Ala. These sealed orders, the departure 
of the troops, and the Act of Secession, produced the wildest 
excitement and anxious inquiry in the minds and hearts 
of her citizens. A few days developed the fact that eight 
Mississippi companies, located on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, 
had been ordered to rendezvous at Mobile and in connection 
with Alabama and Florida troops to proceed to Pensacola, 
Fla., and take possession of that place with its navy yard 
and munitions of war, and, if practicable, the United States 
forts in its vicinity. 

The eight Mississippi companies were as follows : Colum- 
bus Riflemen, Capt. C. H. Abert; Lowndes Southrons, Capt. 
Wm. B. Wade; Prairie Guards, Capt. J. T. W. Hairston; 
Chickasaw Guards, Capt. W. F. Tucker; Noxubee Rifles, 
Capt. Geo. T. Wier; Lauderdale Rifles, Capt. Constantine 




Ho;^\f. 0>^ GF.W S O I_EC COUl-JJ^iBUS. AI.S "5 



(Built for Maj. Thomas Blcwctt in 1S44,) 



123 

Rea; Enterprise Guards, Capt. W. 0. Ferrall; Quitman Light 
Infantry, Capt. J. L. Duck. 

At Pensacola these companies were organized into a 
regiment with the following field officers: Capt. C. H. Abert, 
Colonel; Capt. Wm. B. Wade, Lieut. Colonel; and Lieut. 
Samuel Butler, Major, thus giving Columbus and Lowndes 
county all the commanding officers of the regiment. Drs. B. 
A. Vaughan and C. M. Dickinson were appointed surgeons 

and Brown, Quartermaster, Hugh Topp, Commissary. 

First Lieut. Wm. E. Baldwin was elected Captain of the Co- 
lumbus Riflemen with the following officers: First Lieut., S. 
D. Harris; Second Lieut., J. W. Benoit; Third Lieut., R. A. 
Bell; First Sergeant, W. O. Worrell; Second Sergeant, C. A. 
Johnston ; Third Sergeant, Rube Willeford ; Fourth Sergeant, 
C. Worrell. 

First Corporal, R. W. Harris; Second Corporal, Ed Dun- 
can; Third Corporal, J. C. Duncan; Fourth Corporal, D. Sap- 
pington; Fifth Corporal, E. M. Witherspoon. 

Geo. H. Lipscomb was elected Captain of the Lowndes 
Southrons with the following officers: 

First Lieut. T. P. Shields; Second Lieut. W. C. Richards; 
Third Lieut., Jacob Isaacs. 

First Sergeant, S. H. Harris; Second Sergeant, J. W. 
Armstrong; Third Sergeant, C. Murry; Fourth Sergeant, R. 
H. Riddick; Fifth Sergeant, G. H. Richey. 

First Corporal, R. P. Gregory; Second Corporal, Geo. 
Whitfield; Third Corporal, J. P. Kenny; Fourth Corporal, 
Harris Field. 

The following were the officers of the Prairie Guards: 
Captaiu, J. T. W. Hairston; First Lieut. A. H. Ledbetter; 
Second Lieut., J. H. Hairston; Third Lieut. W. H. Gray. 

First Sergeant, E. Sanders; Second Sergeant, T. Carr; 
Third Sergeant, H. B. Thorp; Fourth Sergeant, H. P. Halbert. 

First Corporal, J. Henkin; Second Corporal, F. R. Greg- 
ory; Third Corporal, J. H. Darby; Fourth Corporal, Thos. 
Roberts; Ensign J. W. Chandler. 

This record shows that Columbus and Lowndes county 
companies were among the very first to obey the orders of 
the sovereign State of Mississippi, to protect her honor and 
territory, before the Confederate States of America was 



124 

organized. These companies remained in the State service 
until early in February, when they were discharged, and on 
the 8th of that month they arrived in Columbus amid the 
booming of cannon, the sounds of martial music, the waving 
of handkerchiefs, and the welcome smiles of their happy 
mothers and sisters. After an address of welcome by Judge 
S. A. Brown, they were escorted by the "Reserve Riflemen," 
the "Lowndes County Guards" and the "Tombigbee Rangers" 
to Cady's Hotel where they partook of a sumptuous breakfast 
prepared for the occasion. 

Early after the organization of the Confederate States 
of America, the first call of the government was made for 
two regiments of soldiers from each of the States. Under 
this call "Lowndes Southrons," Capt. Wm. B. Wade, and 
the "Southern Avengers," Capt. Geo. H. Lipscomb, both 
companies from Columbus, Miss., tendered their services and 
were accepted. 

The "Lowndes Southrons" were commanded by the 
following officers: Capt., Wm. B. Wade; First Lieut., T. P. 
Shields; Second Lieut., W. C. Richards; Third Lieut., J. H. 
Field; Ensign, R. J. Murry. 

First Sergeant, L. L. Goodrich; Second Sergeant, J. W. 
Armstrong; Third Sergeant, G. H. Richey ; Fourth Sergeant, 
Robert Gregory; Fifth Sergeant, James Winston. 

First Corporal, Thos. Edwards; Second Corporal, George 
Bean; Third Corporal, J. P. Beatty; Fourth Corporal, E. T. 
Ruffin. Total officers and men, 91. 

The "Southron Avengers" were commanded by the 
following officers: Capt., Geo. H. Lipscomb; First Lieut., T. 
L Sharp; Second Lieut., Robert Bell; Third Lieut., G. W. 
Vaughn. 

First Sergeant, T. B. Franks; Second Sergeant, E. T. 
Benoit; Third Sergeant, J. Pope; Fourth Sergeant, R. W. 
Harris; Fifth Sergeant, M. M. Burke. 

First Corporal H. Kincannon; Second Corporal, George 
Fisher; Third Corporal, J. Gibson; Fourth Corporal, C. E. Gay. 

Total officers and men 102. 

The time of service for these regiments was one year. 
They were mustered into the Confederate service at Pensacola, 
Fla., Mar. 27, 1861, and were assigned to duty as companies 



125 

in the 10th Mississippi Regiment, commanded by the following 
officers: Col. Moses B. Phillips; Lieut, Col. Joseph R. Davis; 
Maj. E. H. Gregory; Adjutant, E. T. Sykes; Ass't. Surgeon, 
W. L. Lipscomb; Ass't. Quartermaster, George W. Whitfield; 
Quartermaster Sergeant, T. C. Lipscomb. 

These two companies with another Mississippi company 
were assigned to duty in Fort McRae, Maj. E. H. Gregory 
commanding. They remained at Pensacola one year and 
were discharged at Corinth, Miss. Ass't. Surgeon W. L. 
Lipscomb, accompanied the expedition making a night attack 
on Santa Rosa Island and was captured, being one of the 
first prisoners of war from the State of Mississippi. He was 
released on special parole and assigned to duty in New Orleans. 

During 1861 the war began in earnest and, the conflict 
becoming more severe, there was a continuous call of the 
general government on the states for troops. Columbus re- 
sponded with her accustomed patriotism and promptness, 
until companies, aggregating 2201 men from the city and 
county, were sent to the field. The city was a continued 
scene of the organization, equipment, drill, and departure 
of soldiers. The bugle and the drum were rarely missed 
from the sounds which fell on the ears of the citizens of Colum- 
bus during 1861 and '62. For an accurate record of the names 
of these companies, the reader is referred to the list prepared 
by Lieut. Thomas Harrison and published in the Columbus 
Dispatch, date May 8th, 1902. 

In addition to the above Confederate troops, Brig. Gen. 
J. V. Harris rendevouzed and organized at Columbus a brig- 
ade of State troops, which brigade was engaged and captured 
at the siege of Vicksburg. 

Another phase of war which disturbed the quiet and 
occupied the attention of the citizens of Columbus was the 
establishment by the Confederate Government of an immense 
arsenal for the manufacture of arms and the munitions of 
war. Great buildings of brick and wood were projected and 
built with such rapidity that the workmen did not cease 
their labors on the Sabbath day and often extended them 
far into the night. A thousand or more artisans and mechan- 
ics were engaged in casting cannon, manufacturing and alter- 
ing small arms, making cartridges, fuses, percussion caps. 



126 

collecting magazines of powder, in fact the Ordnance Depart- 
ment was engaged in the rapid preparation of all the materials 
of war. In addition to the long barracks which were built 
for the operatives, all the vacant houses in Columbus were 
occupied by their families and by the families of the officers 
who had charge of the Arsenal. Several millions of dollars 
were used in the purchase of material and expended in its 
manufacture. Columbus was almost doubled in white popu- 
lation and the number of Catholics increased to such an ex- 
tent that tney were enabled to build the present Catholic 
church for their worship. The colored school house of today 
is the only building which remains, and was erected for the 
accommodation of the officers and clerks engaged in the enter- 
prise. All the other buildings were destroyed accidentally 
by fire after the removal of the Arsenal, which had been trans- 
ferred to Selma, Ala., as a place of greater safety. Cols. 
Hunt and Caldwell, of Memphis, were the chief officers in 
charge. 

The third addition to the war nistory of Columbus was 
its selection after the Battle of Shiloh in April, 1862, for a 
hospital center for the treatment of the wounded and sick 
of the Armies of Mississippi and Tennessee. The Gilmer 
Hotel, the Odd Fellows Building, the present Concert Hall, 
the Columbus Female Institute, and the great amphitheatre 
at the Fair Grounds, were all converted into hospitals, and 
train loads of wounded and sick soldiers from Shiloh and points 
north of Columbus soon filled all these buildings to their 
utmost capacities. They came in such rapidity that only 
the crudest and most uncomfortable accommodations were 
ready for their reception. They had neither suitable beds 
nor food, but were laid out in long rows on blankets and pal- 
lets of straw. The construction force of Columbus was taxed 
to its utmost capacity, and soon the pallets and straw beds 
were replaced by wooden bunks with cotton beds and pillows, 
and bakeries and kitchens began to supply the sick with ap- 
propriate food. 

It was in this sudden emergency and unfavorable con- 
dition of affairs that the women of Columbus came to the 
aid of the medical officers in charge, and by their untiring 




126 



127 

and continued efforts won for themselves the gratitude and 
honor not only of Mississippi but of the whole Confederacy. 
They divided themselves into committees, each committee 
taking charge of its assigned hospital, and day and night 
they ministered to the wants of the sick and wounded, pre- 
paring suitable food, bandages, dressings, clothing and other 
things necessary for their comfort and improvement. They 
sat by their dying pallets to receive and send their last mes- 
sages to their loved ones at home, to administer the conso- 
lations of religion, and provided for them every comfort that 
money, sympathy, and love could suggest. The increase 
of the wounded and sick became so great that it was estimated 
that 3,000 soldiers were under treatment at one time, necessi- 
tating the opening of almost every home in the city of Colum- 
bus for their accommodation. 

With the advent of the wounded and sick came the dark 
angel of death, and made it imperative to procure a large 
plot of ground in Friendship Cemetery for the interment of 
the numerous dead. So great was the mortality that relays 
of soldiers and hired negroes were continuously engaged in 
digging graves, and hearses and wagons were in constant 
employment in carrying the corpses to their last resting place. 
The death rate at one time ran as high a.3 25 or 30 per day. 
The plot in the southwest comer of Friendship Cemetery was 
soon found to be too small and another plot of ground in the 
northwest comer was obtained. The Federal dead were 
buried in a separate plot of ground procured for that purpose. 

The burial of the dead and the preparation of the coffins 
and graves were entrusted to W. H. O'Neal, a contractor 
of means, owning as he did a number of colored carpenters 
and a large two-story building suitable for the work, and 
faithfully he executed the difficult and disagreeable task. 
The graves were dug in long rows with head and foot boards 
to mark each grave ; each head board was numbered and the 
name of the soldier, his company and regiment written thereon. 
This record was kept in a suitable book prepared for that 
purpose and when the war closed contained more thgn 1500 
names of deceased soldiers. The Federal graves were estimat- 
ed at from 40 to 150. Their remains were moved some years 
after the war to the Federal Cemetery at Corinth, Miss. 



128 

With the removal of the army of Tennessee to the east, 
the supply of sick and wounded decreased, and the hospitals 
were all consolidated into the Fair Ground Hospital. And 
a later order making Lauderdale Springs the hospital center 
decreased the number of sick and wounded so greatly that a 
building was formerly occupied by the Arsenal containing 
about 200 beds, with the negro school house for the accommo- 
dation of the surgeons, was sufficient to meet the demands. 

The first hospitals were in charge of such distinguished 
Surgeons as Dr. Paul F. Eve of Tennessee, Dr. J. T. Pirn of 
Kentucky, Dr. T. D. Isom of Mississippi and Drs. Westmore- 
land of Gorgia. At a later date Drs. W. L. Lipscomb and 
John Brownrigg were Post Surgeons. 

In addition to 1500 soldiers buried in the Confederate 
cemetery, many of our brave and distinguished dead were 
interred in the family squares in Friendship cemetery. The 
first soldier from the city of Columbus who was buried in 
Friendship Cemetery was Sergeant E. T. Benoit, who was 
killed in the discharge of his duty by an intoxicated comrade 
at Fort McRae, Fla. 

The second soldier who was interred in Columbus, and 
the first killed in battle, was Dr. John Williams, who fell at 
Ft. Donelson, brother of Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. Benoit. Then 
came that triple burial, long to be remembered in the history 
of Columbus, when Lieut. Col. A. K. Blythe, Lieut. Whitfield 
Morton, and Private John Garvin — all killed in the battle 
of Shiloh — were laid to rest by one of the largest concourses 
of mourning citizens that ever assembled in Friendship ceme- 
tery. The graves of the following are readily distinguished 
by the monuments and headstones erected by their families 
and friends: Capt. Randle Blewett, killed before Richmond; 
Lieut. McKinney Irion, died from wounds received at Corinth; 
Octavius Williams, died in Camp Douglas; Dr. W. E. Sykes, 
killed at Decatur, Ala.; Gen. Wm. Baldwin, accidentally 
killed in Mobile, Ala.; Col. Isham Harrison, Lieut. Thomas 
Field, and Lieut. William Carrington, all killed at battle of 
Harrisburg, and buried at same time with solemn and imposing 
ceremonies; Capt. Thos. I. Sharp, killed before Atlanta; 
Col. Wm. S. Barry, died of wounds received at Altoona, Ga.; 
A. S. Robertson, died at Corinth, August. 1861 — first death 
in Columbus Riflemen. 



129 

FIRST DECORATION DAY. 

When the war closed in 1865 the Confederate States of 
America died, surrounded by the graves of the brave soldiers 
who defended her, and took her place among the dead nations 
of the earth. There was no great national government to 
take charge of the ashes of her dead, and Mississippi was too 
poor and broken in spirit to erect memorials to perpetuate 
their names and commemorate their valor. In this the dark- 
est hour of Confederate history, the Southern women, with 
a love truer than truth and stronger than death, continued 
to keep the grass that covered their dead wet with their tears, 
and strewed with evergreens and flowers the hillocks that 
marked the remains of the heroes of a loved, lost cause. 

In the spring of 1866 Miss Matt Moreton, Mrs. J. T. 
Fontaine and Mrs. Green T. Hill — three ladies of Columbus 
whose names ought to be remembered as long as a Southern 
heart beats true to gratitude and honor and in loyalty to 
woman, whose virtues shine amid the tears and whose actions 
make this world glorious amid the gloom of despair and the 
ashes of death — ^were in the habit of visiting Friendship 
cemetery and cleaning off as best they could the weeds and 
briers and decorating with flowers the neglected graves of 
the Confederate dead. This beautiful custom, inaugurated 
by them, found a hearty response in the breasts of the ladies 
of Columbus and resulted in a determination to make the 
decoration of the soldiers' graves an annual occurrence, and 
the first celebration to take place was April 25, 1866. An ac- 
count of that event is herewith copied from the Mississippi 
Index, April 26, 1866, James A. Stevens, local editor: "The 
procession of yesterday in honor of the Confederate dead, 
was large and imposing. First marched in twos, the young 
ladies and girls, dressed in immaculate white, each bearing 
her bouquet or chaplet of flowers. Next came tne matrons 
dressed in mourning; like the others with flowers in their 
hands — their black dresses typical of the Southern heart 
in gloom for its beloved dead — the fair flowers emblematic 
of woman's admiration and aflEection for all that was gallant 
and chivalrous in patriots. Lastly came the procession of 
carriages bearing the elderly ladies. 

14 



130 

"Arriving at the cemetery the ladies assembled around 
the graves of the soldiers in the form of a square; from the 
center of the ground, an elaborate and eloquent address was 
delivered by Rev. G. T. Stainback, and following it, a fervent 
prayer by Rev. A. S. Andrews. The ladies then performed the 
beautiful and touching duty of decorating the graves with 
flowers. 

"There were over 1400 graves to be decorated. Through 
exertions and appeals of the kind ladies superintending 
the good work, all these graves had been neatly cleaned off; 
so that after the decoration was completed, "God's Acre" 
of heroes looked as if freshly blooming with a thousand flowers 
— bearing up to Heaven a fragrant and beautiful evidence 
of woman's love, tenderness, and appreciation. 

"We were glad to see that no distinction was made between 
our own dead and about forty Federal soldiers, who slept 
their last sleep by them. It proved the exalted, unselfish 
tone of the female character. Confederate and Federal — 
once enemies, now friends — receiving this tribute of respect." 

Thus was established a custom which has become national 
in its adoption — Decoration Day — having its origin with 
the ladies of Columbus, under the leadership of its prime 
movers. Miss Matt Moreton, Mrs. J. T. Fontaine, aud Mrs. 
Green T. Hill. Columbus also claims the distinction of being 
the first to decorate the graves of both Confederate and Fed- 
eral soldiers alike. And in this connection we copy the fol- 
lowing extract from a Mobile paper: j "Some days since we 
published a letter from "Private" — a well known and high- 
toned merchant of our city — approving the course of the 
Mobile Cadets in sending a wreath to the Federal graves on 
"Decoration Day;" and claiming for the ladies of Columbus 
the originating of this act of peace to the dead. ' The Columbus 
"Index" copies "Private's" letter and our comments upon 
it, and thus speaks for itself: 'This note from "Private" is cor- 
rect, save that the lady — one of the sweetest women with 
whom God ever blessed the earth — volunteered, of her own 
mind, to strew flowers upon the Federal graves. The "Index" 
in its report at the time, alluded to the magnanimous deed in 
words of praise, and North and South, this first act of floral 
reconciliation was discussed in terms of praise and censure. 




MISS MATT MORETON. 



130 



131 

It is not improper to state that this good woman lost a gallant 
husband in the Confederate cause, himself a worthy wearer 
of the gray.' " 

While it is very evident from the description of the first 
"Decoration Day" given above from the Columbus "Index" 
that the decoration of the Federal soldiers' graves was a part 
of the program of that occasion, it appears from the last 
article quoted that the same editor designed that especial 
mention should be made of Mrs. Augusta Cox, formerly Mrs. 
Mrs. Augusta Murdock Sykes, and her name is now given 
in the historical sketch of that event. 

LADIES' MONUMENTAL ASSOCIATION. 

Appropriate services were held every year after the in- 
auguration, but not until April, 1869, was there an organiza- 
tion of the Ladies' Monumental Association. On April the 
6th, 1869, a meeting was held at the Methodist church to 
make arrangements for decorating the graves of the soldiers 
on the 26th of April, and to organize an association, "whose 
immediate object shall be to erect an appropriate monument 
to the memory of Southern soldiers buried in our midst." 
Rev. G. T. Stainback was called to the chair, and Miss Matt 
Morton was appointed secretary, whereupon the association 
styled "The Ladies' Monumental Association" was organized 
by electing the following officers: Mrs. Passie McCabe, Presi- 
dent; Mrs. J. H. Sharp, Vice-President; Mrs. G. T. Hill, 
Treas.; Miss Matt Morton, Sec'y; Mrs. L. Whitfield, Ass't 
Sec'y. Gen. J. H. Sharp was elected orator for the 26th of 
April. 

After the organization of the Ladies' Monumental Asso- 
ciation, the Confederate cemetery was cared for in a proper 
and artistic manner. The grounds were ornamented with 
beautiful magnoHa trees, white pine, and other evergreens, 
and the two plots of ground north and south were connected 
by an avenue with magnolias planted on either side and called 
Magnolia Avenue. 

"Year by year the labors of the Association were con- 
tinued under the direction of those worthy and patriotic 
women, of whom Columbus makes her proudest boast: Mrs. 
Passie B. McCabe, Mrs. A. B. Meek, Mrs. Julia B. Harrison, 



132 

Mrs. M. W. Hatch, Mrs. A. L. Witherspoon and Mrs. J. W. 
Benoit. "With unwearied dihgence and deovted zeal, in 
conjunction with an associate number of the fairest maidens 
that ever bloomed on freedom's soil, they labored and toiled 
until 1872, at which time they felt that they had achieved 
sufficient success to contract for a monument, suitable and 
appropriate to their purpose. A young artist, Mr. W. H. 
Newlon, bom and reared in Columbus, from granite blocked 
from a quarry near luka. Miss., prepared for them this chaste 
and stately column, and at its base on this the 1st day of 
May, 1874, the Ladies' Monumental Association have assem- 
bled, and ask the aiding sympathy of this vast audience in 
its appropriate dedication." 

(Extract from the Address of Dedication, by Dr. W. L. 
Lipscomb.) 

The monument consists of an ornamental stone shaft, 
slightly decreasing in size to the top, situated on a pedestal 
or die, which stands on two stone bases elevated upon a grass 
covered mound of earth. The shaft is ornamented by a 
chapter on which stands a pyramidal finial, the whole monu- 
ment being about 35 feet in height. 

The die is ornamented at its corners by four reversed 
cannons and under its cornice is carved two crossed sheathed 
swords. 

On its east face is the inscription, "In memory of our 
honored dead," and on the east side of second base are the 
letters, "C. S. A." On the west face of the die are the words, 
"Erected by ladies of the Columbus Monumental Association, 
1873." The monument is situated on square No. 330 in 
Friendship cemetery on Magnolia avenue, near the center 
of the cemetery North and South. Its cost was $2,700. 

The above description was furnished by our enterprising 
and patriotic fellow-citizen, Mr. John A. Stinson, of the Colum- 
bus Marble Works. 

After 1874 the following ladies served as Presidents of 
the Monumental Association: Mrs. Stephen D. Lee, Mrs. 
Wm. E. Pope, Mrs. E. T. Sykes (served four years), Mrs. 
C. H. Cocke, Mrs. Joseph M. Street. The labors which de- 
volved upon these Presidents were of the most arduous and 
difficult character. The liquidation of an unpaid debt, the 



133 

semi-annual clearing of the soldiers' graves, the replacing of 
decayed headstones and the preparation for "Decoration 
Day," required a large expenditure of time and taxed to 
its utmost extent the patience and liberality and patriotism 
of these noble women and those associated with them. Con- 
spicuous among the Presidents, Mrs. E. T. Sykes, who for 
four years superintended the work in the midst of its greatest 
necessities and difficulties, deserves honorable mention; so 
faithful and untiring were her labors that to this day, the 
citizens of Columbus specially associate her name with the 
care of the soldiers' graves and ceremonies of "Decoration 
Day." In 1894 the Ladies' Monumental Association was en- 
tirely free from debt, and the erection of the monument which 
was the main object of their organization was completed. 
"Decoration Day" was continued under their auspices until 
that date, when the Monumental Association, having be- 
queathed to the United Daughters of the Confederacy all their 
rights and titles and the care of the soldiers' graves, ceased 
to exist. The Stephen D. Lee chapter U. D. C. was organized 
March, 1896. 

UNITED DAUGHTERS OF CONFEDERCY. 

"The object of the United Daughters of the Confederacy 
are historical, educational, memorial, benevolent and social; 
to fulfill the duties of charity to the survivors of the war 
between the States and those dependent upon them; to col- 
lect and preserve the material for a truthful history of the 
war; to protect historic places of the Confederacy; to record 
the part taken by Southern women, as well in untiring effort 
after the war in the reconstruction of the South, as in patient 
endurance of hardship and patriotic devotion during the 
struggle; to honor the memory of those who served and those 
who fell in the service of the Confederate States; and to cher- 
ish the ties of friendship among the members of the Society." 

Most faithfully has the Columbus chapter of this Asso- 
ciation fulfilled the trust and executed the labors bequeathed 
to them by the Monumental Association. They have, with 
the assistance of Capt. John Childers and the city street 
hands, continued the cleaning off of the soldiers' graves and 
the ceremonies of "Decoration Day" with unabated interest 



134 

and success ; have obtained from the Odd Fellows legal deeds 
to the grounds of the Confederate cemetery and the square 
on which the monument stands; they have set up stone corner 
posts to mark the plots of grounds; are completing the erec- 
tion of marble headstones for the soldiers' graves ; have erected 
and paid for the beautiful monument, representing a Confed- 
erate soldier mounted upon a proper pedestal and base; and 
contemplate such improvements of the grounds as shall make 
them equal to the best soldiers' cemeteries in the land. 

The State of Mississippi ought to assist the Daughters 
of the Confederacy in these laudable purposes by the appro- 
priation of the requisite amount of money to carry them out 
and also to erect a monument to be placed in the center of 
the North plot of ground. And in the absence of something 
more suitable the following design is suggested: The monu- 
ment should consist of the figure of a female scattering flowers 
on the graves of the Blue and Gray, and on the faces of the 
pedestal should be carved the following inscriptions : On the 
East face, "First Decoration Day in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 
1866." On the West face the names of the three ladies who 
originated "Decoration Day." On the South face, "Erected 
by the Daughters of the Confederacy." On the North face 
"Mississippi honors the women who honor her dead heroes." 

The presidents of the Columbus Chapter, United Daugh- 
ters of the Confederacy, have been as follows: Mrs. John M. 
Billups, Mrs. Georgia P. Young, Mrs. Helen R. Garner, Miss 
Mary Harrison, Mrs. Geo. W. Sherman, Mrs. Sarah S. Sheffield, 
Mrs. Mathis, Mrs. R. C. Betts and Mrs. T. B. Franklin. 

This historical sketch claims for the city of Columbus the lo- 
cation of the first a-nd largest Confederate cemetery in Missis- 
sippi — that the grounds were the liberal and generous donation of 
the Odd Fellows of Columbus — the origin ayid first celebration 
of ''Decoration Day" — the custom of decorating alike the graves 
of the Federal and Confederate soldiers — the organization of 
the first Monumental Association and the erection of the first 
monument in honor of the Confederate dead. 

[Note — The writer of this sketch desires to return his sincere 
thanks to Capt. E. T. Sykes for the use of his very valuable historical 
scrap book from which many of the above facts were obtained. Also 
to Miss Mary Harrison, e.K-President of the Daughters of the Confed- 
eracy, for her cheerful and active assistance in collecting the material 



-rtises;'' 



« ■ ■ 

•If ^iw 



.^*^"- 



( ', .•■ Its- » 







OPERA HOUSE. 



134 



135 

POSTSCRIPT. 

Since the above was written, a beautiful -little volume, 
published in 1898, prepared by the Daughters of the Con- 
federacy of Columbus, Ga., containing the claim of the ladies 
of that city, as to the origin and celebration of the first Dec- 
oration Day in the United States has been placed in our hands. 

The writer has carefully perused all the facts and state- 
ments in that monogram, and while he is willing to accord to 
those noble and patriotic ladies the truth of all the facts and 
evidence contained therein, he still claims that the facts and 
details of this sketch are entitled to equal credence and fully 
demonstrate, the Daughters of the Confederacy of Columbus, 
Ga., being judges, that the first Decoration Day in the United 
States was celebrated by the Ladies of Columbus, Mississippi, 
on April 25, 1866, with imposing and solemn ceremonies 
and the delivery of the first speech, on Decoration Day, by 
the Rev. George T. Stainback. The origin of Decoration 
Day in Columbus, Miss., was evidently too different and 
independent to be confounded with that of Columbus, Georgia, 
and its date of celebration, April 25, 1866, was one day prior 
to that claimed by the ladies of Georgia, April 26, 1866. 

The writer very much regrets to disturb the minds and 
claims of the ladies of Georgia, and he knows that they will 
excuse him when he states that he did not know of their claim 
to the first Decoration Day, or of their published volume 
when his sketch was written. 

Extending to the Daughters of the Confederacy of Colum- 
bus, Georgia, the high regard and cordial patriotic sympathy 
of the ladies of Columbus, Mississippi, the writer subscribes 
himself, 

Your obedient servant, 

W. L. LIPSCOMB. 



for this tribute to the ladies of Columbus. Also to Miss Sarah Shef- 
field, President of the United Daughters of the Confedercy in Colum- 
bus, for a plan of the grounds and a photograph of the monuments. 
And to other friends for the loan of old original papers and records 
used in its preparation.] 



136 



"THE BLUE AND THE GRAY." 



By the flow of the inland river, 

Whence the fleets of iron have fled, 
Where the blades of the green grass quiver, 

Asleep in the ranks of the dead; 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Under the one the Blue, 

Under the other the Gray. 

These in the restings of glory, 

These in the gloom of defeat; 
All with the battle-blood glory. 

In the dusk of eternity meet; 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Under the laurel the Blue, 

Under the willow the Gray. 

From the silence of sorrowful hours 

Tne desolate mourners go, 
Lovingly laden with flowers 

Alike for the friend and the foe, 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Under the roses the Blue, 

Under the lilies the Gray. 

So, with an equal splendor 

The morning sun rays fall, 
With a touch impartially tender 

On the blossoms blooming for all; 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Broidered with gold the Blue; 

Mellowed with gold the Gray. 



M. 



137 

So, when the summer calleth 

On forest and field of grain 
With an equal murmur falleth, 

The cooling drop of the rain, 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Wet with the rain the Blue, 

Wet with the rain the Gray. 

Sadly, but not with upbraiding, 

The generous deed was done; 
In the storm of the years that are fading. 

No braver battle was won. 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Under the blossoms the Blue, 

Under the garlands the Gray. 

No more shall the war cry sever. 

Or the winding rivers be red; 
They banished our anger forever 

When they laurel the graves of our dead, 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Love and tears for the Blue, 

Tears and love for the Gray. 

In Volume 5, pp. 148-9 of "The Speaker's Garland and 
Literary Boquet," published by P. Garrett and Co., No. 708 
Chesnut Street, Philadelphia, in 1876, appeared the above 
poem by F. ^. Finch, entitled "The Blue and the Gray." 

The poem has the following head-note, viz: 

"The women of Columbus, Miss., animated by noble sentiments, 
have showed themselves impartial in their offerings to the memory of 
the dead. They strewed flowers on the graves of the Confederate and 
of the National soldiers." 

Judge Finch in a recent edition of his poems inserts the 
above note and gives "The Blue and the Gray" the first place 
in the volume. The poem was first published in The Atlan- 
tic Monthly September, 1867, with the same head-note. 
15 



138 



MEMORIAL DAY EXERCISES. 

Gen. Stephen D. Lee was introduced for the oration 
of the day. As the old soldier came forward he was greeted 
with affectionate regard by his followers and he was received 
with honor and applause by the vast assembly who recognized 
in him one of the foremost figures of the mighty drama of 
forty years ago. Gen. Lee's address was admirably chosen 
and is given for the benefit of the younger generation that 
they may have a proper conception and understanding of 
that great era. He spoke as follows: 

My Friends — ^There is much of pathos in this occasion 
and scene to-day. Our patriotic and noble women are making 
their annual pilgrimage to deck the graves of our heroic dead 
and pay a tribute to defeated valor and manhood, men who 
died for their beloved Southland, and have no other reward 
than our love and the tender recollection of that love they 
bore for their homes and firesides, in the gigantic drama of 
a war, which for four years shook the American continent 
and held the attention of the world. So long as this beautiful 
memorial custom is continued, it will teach the generations 
of the future the story of the matchless, unfading and undying 
honor which the Confederate soldier won. 

In this large audience the survivors of the great struggle 
are but a handful, a small representative of the 2,201 soldiers 
who went from Lowndes county. All around them are the 
young people who have grown up since the war. Many have 
been bom and come of age since these men laid down their 
arms. It is forty-one years since they took up the struggle 
and thirty-seven years since they were compelled to lay it 
down. More than a generation have lived and died by laws 
of nature. 

People have almost forgotten the great war, even during 
the life-time of some of its survivors; have forgotten that 
three and a half million of men were soldiers and marshaled 
in hostile array; that over one million of men lost their lives, 
and $10,000,000,000 of money was spent and property lost; 




Gicx. sTr-:piiEx niLi, lee, c.s.a. 
(1S:j;]-19US.) 



138 



139 

have forgotten the devastation of our land, our burned cities, 
and destruction of our property; have forgotten the great 
social upheaval in the freeing of the slaves. 

We survivors are in the midst of new generations, new 
duties, new responsibilities, and in the exacting demands of 
the present we have little time to think and talk of the past. 
In fact, my comrades, we are almost strangers, living amid 
a new people. 

This is one occasion, however, when it is appropriate to 
recall some of the plain facts of history for the information 
of our children who are to take our places. They should 
know that our motives were pure and manly, that in the great 
civil strife the South was guided and controlled by a sense 
of duty and actuated by patriotic spirit, and did not in a 
cowardly and base manner submit, while most sacred consti- 
tutional rights were ignored and pledged guarantees trampled 
underfoot. So I propose to recall some matters which 
should never be forgotten by the people of the South: "Our 
nation cannot afford to have the people of the South lose 
their self respect or future citizens of that large and most 
promising section of the country, the South, brought up with- 
out that pride in their ancestors, which leads to noble and 
patriotic action. Those who endeavor to undermine the 
faith of Southern youth in their ancestors, and to perpetuate 
teaching in this country which indicts a noble people, an 
integral part of the nation for treason and rebellion, are the 
real enemies of the republic, the plotters against its glory 
and the perpetuation of its liberties." 

There are those present who recall the political excite- 
ment which for forty years preceded the war. Our fore- 
fathers, although they tried to compromise the great differ- 
ences between the North and South, failed, and our country 
both North and South was a boiling caldron of excitement. 
The discussions of the tariff, states' rights, and slavery had 
reached the most remote hamlet in the most sparsely settled 
sections; both sides had been worked up to fighting heat by 
inflammatory speeches. Everybody was almost crazy to begin 
fighting, having despaired of any settlement, except by the 
arbitrament of the sword, and when they got at it, it meant 



140 

business as the record shows, and we had incomparably the 
the greatest war of modem times. 

I will deal with facts of history today, and will not theo- 
rize on cause or facts. 

There were many differences which brought on the con- 
flict, and, perhaps, the most irritating cause was slavery 
and its extension in area of territory, and both North and 
South were responsible for it, morally alike. The institution 
of slavery has existed in all ages, in Bible history, and before 
the discovery of America, and from 1619 to 1840 it existed 
throughout the world, and the slave trade was carried on by 
all civilized nations till the year 1800. Spain, England, France 
Holland, and New England engaged in it. The ships of all 
nations were in the slave trade, but no Southern colony or 
state ever had a vessel so engaged. Queen Elizabeth, of 
England, made money out of it by being a partner with her 
great naval officer, Hawkins, and slave trade was carried 
on for 274 years. For much of that period it was regarded 
as a service of God. A New England deacon, who heard 
of the safe arrival of a slaver with 700 human beings, fell on 
his knees and thanked God that so many savages and cannibals 
had been brought to learn how to work, and know the only 
living and true God. 

The historian, Bancroft, says England kidnapped 3,000,- 
000 slaves and sent them to her American colonies in 274 
years. England put 600,000 negroes in Jamaica. Spain 
exterminated natives in the West Indies and put negroes 
in their places. The slave trade during that period was en- 
dorsed by patriots, crowned heads, and Christians. New 
England founded most of her early wealth of her people in 
the slave trade. 

Now, I will try to show these young people that the South 
was not responsible for the institution of slavery, and so far 
as it led to the great war, not responsible for the shedding 
of blood and spending of treasure and desolation and ruin 
which overtook her, nor was she responsible for the inaugur- 
ation of the war. 

The American colonies were under English rule till the 
Declaration of Independence in 1776. Slavery had been 
fastened on them by Great Britain and the nations of the 



141 

world, while they were helpless. The record is plain, that 
both Virginia and South Carohna earnestly protested against 
their introduction and passed laws to prohibit and restrict 
the trade. In 1760 South Carolina protested and placed a 
duty on their introduction, and she was overruled by the 
king and parliament of Great Britain; Virginia passed twenty- 
three acts and sent over 100 petitions to royal authority 
against the introduction of slaves, and in every instance was 
overruled by the parliament and King of Great Britain. This 
was done often, till several millions of negroes were forced 
on the colonies. So we see slavery was forced on all of Eng- 
land's colonies prior to the Revolution, and slavery was in- 
herited from other nations, the most civilized nations of the 
world at the time, and when the colonies were helpless and 
unable to resist. 

At the beginning of the Revolutionary war every one 
of the Northern states, including New England, recognized 
slavery and protected the slave owner, and slaves were bought 
and sold in them. This was the case when the Constitution 
of 1787 was formed, except that Massachusetts freed her 
slaves soon after the war. The Constitution of the United 
States (1787) sanctioned, recognized, and protected slavery, 
and provided for it in representation, in congress, in taxation 
and in immigration, and restoration of fugitive slaves in 
several articles and sections. It was sanctioned also in state 
constitutions. The constitution actually extended the slave 
trade twenty years after its adoption, and the States of Mas- 
sachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire voted to extend 
it for a longer period, to enjoy the profits of the slave trade, 
in which so many of their people were engaged. Senator 
Lodge, of Massachusetts, in 1876, said: "We all know, the 
world knows, that our independence could not have been 
achieved, our union could not have been maintained, our 
constitution could not have been established, without the 
adoption of those compromises which recognized its continued 
existence, and left it to the responsibility of the states of 
which it was a grievous inheritance; and from that day for- 
ward, the methods of dealing with it, of disposing of it, and 
of extinguishing it, became more and more a problem full 



142 

of terrible perplexity and seemingly incapable of human 
solution." 

New England sold her slaves to the South. In three 
years, 1804 to 1807, 20,728 negroes by British and French 
and 18,048 by Americans. Slavery did not pay in the 
cold climate of the North and did pay at the South. To 
show how it was regarded during the Revolution and for 
a long time afterwards, Washington commanded the revolu- 
tionary armies and was the first president. He, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Polk and Taylor were all slave 
holders, and filled the presidental chair about fifty years. 

But as stated, for forty years there were fierce agitation 
as to slavery mainly. There were always men and women 
who believed slavery was wrong all during the time it existed, 
and the sentiment of the world gradually changed. During 
the agitation Congress passed laws to enforce the provisions 
of the federal constitution, and to enforce the protection of 
slave property as other kind of property. The supreme 
court sustained these laws and the President tried to enforce 
them. But the antagonism became greater and greater, 
the unfriendly feeling more and more intense, and fourteen 
of the Northern states passed personal liberty laws, nullifying 
the constitution and the supreme court decisions, and refusing 
to give up fugitive slaves. The Anti-Slavery party came into 
power and the States were divided on sectional lines, the North 
against the South. The North being in the majority in Con- 
gress, and largely so in population and wealth, demanded that 
the South must submit. All compromises, many suggested, 
were rejected. 

It was virtually demanded that the entire loss of the 
slave property should fall on the Southern people. Its value 
was $3,000,000,000. The people of the South had invested 
their money in slave property, depending on the sacred guar- 
antees of the Federal constitution. Slavery came by law, 
was protected by law. The South was no more responsible 
for it than the North, the whole country should have borne 
the loss. The remedy should have been a national one. Feel- 
ing ran so high no settlement could be had except by arms. 
Slavery was a part of the industrial and social system of the 
South; a sudden change would have bankrupted the South. 




BLEWETT LEE 

was born near Columbus, Miss., March 1, 1867, and is the onlj- rliilil 
of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, C. S. A., and Regina Lil}^ Harrison. Ili' 
received his earher education at the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College of Mississippi, of which his father was President, graduating 
there in 1S8-'^, after which he was a student at the University of Vir- 
ginia, going from there to Harvard, where he graduated in 1888, A.M., 
LL.B. The following year he studied in the Universities of Lie])sic 
and Freiburg, Germany. Returning to the United States he became 
])rivate secretary to Chief Justice Fuller, of the Supreme Court, sub- 
sequently .settling in Atlanta, Ga., for the practice of law. In 181)."> 
he was made professor of law in the Northwestern University, and 
later filling the same chair in the University of Chicago. In l'.)()2 he 
was appointed General Attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad, and 
June 15, inoi), General Solicitor of the entire system, succeeding Hon. 
J. M. Dickinson when tiie latter was made a member of President 
Taft's Cabinet. 



142 



143 

It was the main property of the South. When Great Britain 
and other nations freed the slaves in their colonies, it was done 
by gradual emancipation, and the owners were compensated 
for their loss, but the South, though not responsible for it 
was forced to stand the entire loss. 

The issue was forced on the South. The guarantees 
for the protection of their property had been brushed aside 
and they were face to face with the proposition, whether they 
would submit to the ultimatum of the North, which meant 
the loss of their property, or fight to preserve the sacred guar- 
antees of the constitution. Like a brave and chivalrous 
people the South decided to battle for the constitution as 
handed down by her forefathers. 

I state here that even we of the South would not have 
slavery restored. The sentiment of the world is against it, 
and we, too, feel that way now. But let our own children 
know that we did not fight to maintain slavery, but for con- 
stitutional rights. Slavery was being extinguished in the 
border states, and in a little while would have disappeared, 
but our northern brothers, after getting rid of and getting 
paid for their slaves, wanted to force us to get rid of them 
at once and bear the entire loss. No chivalric people would 
have ever submitted to such arbitrary loss of property, and 
it was the misfortune of the South that it was forced on her, 
and she had to bear the loss of war and her property also. 

This brings us now to a few facts as to secession and 
nullification. "New England historians always represent their 
section as loyal to the union and abhorrent to any scheme of 
nullification and dis-union, and no terms of vilification or 
obloquy are too severe for the South, and yet secession had 
its genesis in New England, and in not a few instances, when 
her material interests were apparently endangered, has she 
insisted on her rights of resistance even to nullification or 
separation. And the reproach of dis-union has been slipped 
from the shoulders of the North to those of the South." 

Threats of dis-union were made by high officials in Mas- 
sachusetts and Connecticut in 1786, 1794, and 1796. Gov. 
Plummer in 1805, affirmed the purpose of New England lead- 
ers — whose names he gives — was to dissolve the union. John 
Quincy Adams states that the plan was so matured that a 



144 

military leader was selected to carry it into execution. They 
called the Hartford Convention into existence. This con- 
vention of delegates appointed by the legislatures of three 
of the New England states, and the delegates from counties 
in Vermont and New Hampshire, said : "In cases of deliberate, 
dangerous, and palpable infractions of the constitution, affect- 
ing the sovereignty of the state and the liberties of the people, 
it is not only the right, but the duty of such state to interpose 
for their protection in the manner best calculated to secure 
that end." This was while the armies of Great Britain were 
on our soil, and when the walls of our capitol were blackened 
and marred by the fires kindled by our foes. This covers 
the whole doctrine of nullification. 

Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, advocated it in Congress 
when the admission of Louisiana was considered in 1811. 
Mr. Quincy said: "I am compelled to declare it my deliberate 
opinion that if this bill passes, the bonds of the union are 
virtually dissolved. That the States which compose it are 
free from their moral obligations and that it will be the right 
of all so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for a 
separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must." 
—(Curry). 

Mr. Adams said: "The two postulates for dis-union were 
nearly consummated. The intervention of a kindly provi- 
dence restoring peace to our country and to the world averted 
the most deplorable of castastrophes, and, turning over to 
the receptacle of things lost upon earth, the adjourned con- 
vention from Hartford to Boston extinguished (by the mercy 
of Heaven may it be forever) the projected New England 
Confederacy." 

The annexation of Texas brought out the same spirit 
in New England. In 1845, John Q. Adams, Truman Smith, 
and other congressmen from the Northern states declared, 
in a joint letter, that the annexation of Texas would justify 
a dissolution of the union and would lead to that result. Mas- 
sachusetts at session in 1844-45, followed by other New Eng- 
land states, resolved that they were not bound to recognize 
the annexation of Texas as obligatory to them. The acqui- 
sition of this immense Texas addition was designed and ac- 



145 

compHshed by Calhoun, Jackson, Polk, and their political 
associates." — (Curry.) 

It may be stated also that fourteen of the Northern States, 
by their personal liberty laws, nullified the provisions of the 
constitution, the laws of Congress, and the decision of the 
supreme court of the United States, with reference to the 
return of fugitive slaves. So it appears that New England 
and the North are not spotless as to secession and nulhfication 
of the laws of Congress, and that any obloquy which may 
attach to the South for secession and nullification, also at- 
taches to the North for originating and claiming the right, 
while the South at a later period, to protect her interests, 
exercised that right. 

The war began in 1861, and it was the most desperately 
fought of all wars in modern times. The loss of life and money 
surpassed anything the world had ever seen. Over three and 
a half millions of men were marshaled in the opposing armies, 
the North putting 2,865,528 men in the field and near 800 
vessels of war. The Confederates put about 700,000 men 
under arms, the Northern armies outnumbering the Southern 
armies by over 2,000,000, and 674,628 men were killed, mortal- 
ly wounded or died before the close of the war ; and it may be 
safely said that over 1,000,000 men directly and indirectly 
lost their lives in the civil war. It cost the country. North 
and South $10,000,000,000. The great odds in men, money, 
material, and resources forced the Confederates to resist with 
utmost desperation and expose themselves vastly more than 
had been the case before. The Confederate army had 325,000 
men, half of the enlisted strength, buried before the close of the 
war. Had the Federals lost in the same proportion, they 
would have lost over 600,000 men killed, instead of 359,528. 
Over 2,000 battles were fought, the Confederates disputing 
nearly every foot of the territory of the South. 

The losses of those actually engaged in battle surpassed 
anything known in war. European armies lost three per cent, 
in battle. The Union army lost five per cent., while the 
Confederate army lost ten per cent. There were 238 battles 
fought on Mississippi soil, and 27,500 men were killed or 
died. Mississippi put 78,000 troops in the field, 8,000 more 
than her voting strength. In the battle of Gettysburg 45,444 

16 



146 

men were killed and wounded. In that battle one Union 
regiment, First Minnesota, lost eighty-two per cent, in 
killed, wounded and missing — one Confederate regiment, 
Twenty-sixth North Carolina, lost eighty-seven per cent. 
At Waterloo, the loss was ten per cent. ; at Marengo, fourteen 
per cent., European battles. At the Wilderness and Spott- 
sylvania the loss was forty per cent., American battles. Out 
of the Confederate army of 700,000 men, seventy general 
officers were killed. Out of the Union army of 2,887,000 
men, fifty general officers were killed. A distinguished Union 
writer and soldier says of the Confederate st niggle: "The 
conduct was extraordinary in heroic aspect." 

I want the young people to listen while I tell them who 
these old veterans are. They will soon all be gone, as every 
year lessens the number who engaged in these exercises. 
Then the sons and daughters of the Confederacy will have to 
treasure their memories. 

My comrades, I greet you with affectionate regard. I 
an proud I am a unit in your band of comradeship. We were 
comrades in battle. We will be comrades to the end. Ours 
has been an eventful generation. No generation of the cen- 
turies has had its manhood tested under so many varied 
conditions. Before the War we took part in the great polit- 
ical campaigns which brought on the war. We were tried 
in prosperity before the great conflict. We were tried in the 
great war. Some of us were at Gettysburg when 43,449 men 
were killed, wounded, and missing — at Murfreesboro when the 
loss was 23,504 — at Shiloh, 23,000 lost — at Chickamauga, 
32,000. We were on nearly all of the battlefields of the war. 
We fought until over one-half of our enlisted strength was 
under the sod. No such record in any war! We were tried 
in prosperity, in victory, in defeat, in sacrifices, in tribulation, 
in humiliation, and in prosperity again. 

The response through our long lives has under all tests 
been honorable, brave, true, and clear as a bugle note to every 
duty. We can all recall our patriotism and the pure motives 
that inspired us; can recall the ardor with which we rallied 
around our flag, the indomitable heroism with which we fol- 
lowed it through desolation and danger to death; how we 
fought over almost every foot of our beloved Southland in 



147 

over 2300 battles! Can recall our fortitude and patient en- 
durance after the war; how with integrity and manhood we 
stood firm to preserve our Anglo-Saxon civilization against 
negro, carpetbag, and scalawag rule, supported by the United 
States government and State goverments with soldiers and 
negro troops; how under enormity of provocation, in reversal 
of our social and industrial conditions, we kept quiet and 
bided our time, and never lost confidence in ourselves, but 
with dignity never gave our consent while it lasted, but at 
first opportunity reversed everything and took matters in 
our hands; how we have rebuilt our waste places and restored 
prosperity to our beloved Southland! 

It is a great satisfaction to know that in all these trying 
times, that in the transition from prosperity to war, from war 
to bad government, from bad government to restoration 
of good government and prosperity again, we, surviving com- 
rades of the great conflict, have been the principal actors, 
who have followed these great changes, in a most eventful 
period of history making, and have always met every respon- 
sibility of war and peace and statesmanship. We have never 
sulked in our tents, never dodged a single of many issues 
presented to us, but we have met all like manly men with 
courage, nerve, and manhood. 

We have been the connecting link of two or more gen- 
ations — have been the chief actors. God has spared our 
lives to see our country once more prosperous and happy, 
and like Simeon of old we are about ready to take our depar- 
ture. We are so nearly ready to cross over the river, over 
which so many of our comrades have already crossed, that 
some of us can almost hear the roaring of the waters. 

I have spoken of the Confederate soldier; what shall I 
say of the Confederate woman, his partner and associate 
in the trying times? They were the greatest patriots in the 
war. They endured, in silent struggle at home, privations 
greater than the soldiers in the field. They waited, suffered, 
starved without a murmur, always with hope. "With more 
than a soldier's courage they endured more than a soldiers' 
hardship. The boom of every cannon blanched their cheeks, 
chilled their hearts, as they thought of their husbands and 
sons in the army, and yet for four long years they waited and 



148 

suffered." They laid loved ones away with tears, and with 
tears sent their young boys to take their places. They had 
none of the excitement of battle, but all anxiety, enduring 
all the agonies of apprehension, the calmer waiting for cal- 
amity which might and generally did come. They stayed 
at home, they controlled and directed our slaves, with scarcely 
a man to protect them, raised provisions to feed the troops 
in the field, clothed them, and sent stragglers back to the 
front. In the trying ordeal of reconstruction, amid desolation, 
ruin, and poverty after the war, they never lost hope, and 
cheered the men during those dark periods. God bless our 
noble Southern women, the flower of the world! 

And now, young ladies and gentlemen, what I have said 
is history and belongs to the past. It is, in brief, a heroic 
history of a great people. Now we live in better days, we have 
a re-united country ; it is a great country, possibly the most 
powerful and richest nation in the world; now we love to give 
loyal support to our country and do all we can to add to her 
glory or to increase her greatness and prosperity. To preserve 
and defend the record of your forefathers is not in any way 
incompatible with true and loyal allegiance to our government 
as the issues of the great war are settled and accepted by all. 

I leave you with a quotation from the great historian 
Macaulay: "A people who take no pride in the noble achieve- 
ments of remote ancestry, will never achieve anything worthy 
to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." 

x\fter the oration of Gen. Lee, the veterans received 
bouquets from the Daughters of the Confederacy, "Dixie" 
was sung and the exercises at the Court House were completed 
and the procession was formed for the march to the cemetery. 
First came the members of Isham Harrison Camp and visiting 
veterans, the Daughters of the Confederacy in carriages, the 
A. and M. Battalion of cadets, the Columbus Riflemen, and 
citizens in carriages. Arriving at the cemetery the graves 
of the old soldiers, as well as the monument perpetuating 
their deeds of valor and patriotism, were decorated, after 
which the various civil and military bodies returned to this 
city and the celebration was over. — Columbus Dispatch. 

[Note — This address 's part of the History of Columbus, too val- 
uable to be lost; hence it is here inserted. — W. L. L.] 




J. Ij. BROWNklGG. 



148 




JAMES T. JIARRISOX, ESQ. 



148 



149 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PHYSICIANS, LAWYERS, AND BANKS 

(In a prefatory note to Chapter XI, Dr. Lipscomb an- 
nounced the titles of several chapters to be added to his history 
of Columbus. In these chapters he purposed to tell of the 
ante-bellum lawyers and physicians of the town, of the mer- 
cantile and manufacturing growth of the place, of the banks, 
hotels, and other matters of interest to those whose lives 
like his are linked inseparably with the history of the town. 
His illness and other causes prevented the completion of 
the chapters as planned; but from notes left by him, this 
chapter is composed, consisting of reminiscences and biog- 
raphical matter likely to be welcomed by the descendants 
of the staunch citizens of those earlier days.) 

PHYSICIANS. 

The physicians who practiced in Columbus in the first 
two or three decades of its history were men of striking person- 
ality ; several of them of distinguished ablity. Ford, Thomp- 
son, Slade, and Baker first come into view. Dr. Ford was 
afterwards a professor in a Nashville Medical College. Dr. 
Thompson moved to the Mayhew prairie. Drs. Kade and 
Baker were elegant, dashing young men, who added the drug 
business to their profession. Immediately after these, came 
that strong and brilliant coterie of physicians composed of 
Dr. Samuel B. Malone, Aurelius N. Jones, William Spillman, 
Gideon Lincecum, A. V. Winter, Drs. Logue and McMichael, 
and Dr. Dabney Lipscomb. 

DR. JOHN BROWNRIGG. 

John Brownrigg, eldest son of Gen. R. T. Brownrigg, was bom in 
"Wingfield," near Edenton, North Carolina, on December 6, 1829. 
He was very young when his father moved to Mississippi. He was a 
graduate of the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, and during 
almost the entire period of the Civil War he served in the Confederate 
Army as surgeon, attaining the rank Qf Division Surgeon. On Janu- 
ary 14, 1864, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Judge Wm. H. Yerger, 
of Jackson, Miss. She died very young and he never married again. 



150 

Dr. Sam. B. Malone came to Columbus as a surgeon from 
the United States navy, and soon became the most distin- 
guished surgeon and physician in northeast Mississippi, which 
rank he held until his death. He married Antoinette Bibb, 
daughter of Col. John D. Bibb. His daughter Miss Nettie 
Bibb married Hon. Alfred Glover of Forkland, Ala., and they 
are the parents of Mrs. Ledyard A. Vaughan of this city. 
Dr. Malone married four times; his second wife being Miss 
Mary Moore; his third wife Miss Winfield Sykes, mother of 
Mrs. Hunter Walker, now a citizen of Columbus; his last 
wife was Mrs. Bates. 

Dr. Aurelius N. Jones was a man of large physical frame, 
strong, vigorous intellect, and very successful in his profession, 
to which he added the drug business; owning the store after- 
wards known as Blair's comer. 

Dr. William Spillman, a modest, unpretentious man, 
had a large practice. He was extremely fond of natural 
science, to which he devoted much of his leisure time, until 
he became one of the best known geologists of the Southwest. 

Dr. Gideon Lincecum was a man with an order of mind 
suited to pioneer life. He studied medicine in middle life, set- 
tled in Columbus as a botanic doctor, and became well ac- 
quainted with the medical botany of this section of the coun- 
try. He was fond of phrenology and mesmerism, and was 
considered an expert in both these branches. He wrote 
many interesting articles concerning the red ant and other 
insects and animals. After the war he moved from Texas 
to Mexico and made some interesting contributions to our 
knowledge of that country. 

Dr. Dabney Lipscomb, son of Joel Lipscomb and Eliza- 
beth Childs, was bom in Abbeville District, S. C. in 1803. 
He received a collegiate education in Columbia College, Wash- 
ington, D. C, under the guardianship of his father's friend 
and neighbor John C. Calhoun, the great statesman of the 

Their only surviving child, Richard Thomas Brownrigg, is now prac- 
ticing law in St. Louis, Mo. 

Dr. Brownrigg was an able and successful physician and was 
especially skilled in surgery. He practiced his profession in Columbus 
until his death, which occured in St. Louis on January 21, 1902. 

He was a man of strong convictions and high character and was 
active in all movements looking to the moral and material advancement 
of the community, and enjoyed the respect of all who knew him. 



151 

South. He moved with his father to Greene county, Ala., 
where he chose medicine as his profession, and attended the 
famous medical school of the Southwest, Transylvania Uni- 
versity, Ky. He began the practice of medicine at Carthage, 
Ala., in 1827; but, with his wife and two sons, William Lown- 
des and George Hardwick, moved to Columbus, Miss., in 1832, 
where he soon became one of the prominent physicians of 
the town and section. He first lived in a cabin on the site 
of the present Dashiell residence, the front rooms of which 
first and second floors, he later built for his family residence. 
Col. Geo. Harris, to whom he sold the place, added the rooms 
to the rear. From his education at Washington and early asso- 
ciations there and in South Carolina Dr. Dabney Lipscomb 
throughout life manifested a fondness for literature and polit- 
ical writings. He wa^ elected State Senator from 
Lowndes county in 1845, and re-elected in 1849. He so 
impressed his colleagues that he was twice chosen President 
of the Senate; which office he held till June, 1850, the time 
of his death. Had he lived to the end of his term, he would 
have been by virtue of his office the successor of Governor 
Quitman, who resigned in 1850. He was a strong, quiet, 
scholarly man, a capable and beloved physician, a Calhoun 
Democrat, an active, earnest Mason, one of the Deputy Grand 
Masters of the State, and a faithful, devoted steward of the 
Methodist church. 

LAWYERS. 

Among the lawyers here in 1832, were Stephen Cocke, 
afterwards Chancellor of the Northern District, Tilghman M. 
Tucker, later Governor of the State, Addison Boyken, E. L. 
Aycee, Stephen Nash, father of Hon. Wiley P. Nash of 
Starkville, and J. F. Trotter, Judge of the Circuit Court. 
James T. Harrison, afterwards distinguished as a lawyer, 
and Samuel Butterworth, later receiver of customs for the 
Port of New York, came to Columbus in 1833. Gradually 
there gathered here a bar unsurpassed in the State. Merely 
naming them is sufficient to establish this claim. James T. 
Harrison, William L. Harris, George R. Clayton, Charles R. 
Crusoe, Richard Evans, Beverly Matthews, and William S. 
Barry, men distinguished in the highest courts, and honored 



152 

in the councils of the State, the United States, and the Con- 
federate States of America. Of Meek, Orr, Sims, Sykes, Hum- 
phries, their worthy successors, and of the younger able lawyers 
now at the bar it is not needful to speak in words of praise, 
as might also be done of the doctors who came to usefulness 
and distinction in the years following the Civil War. 

BANKS. 

In 1832, there was not a bank in Columbus; and the 
hundreds of settlers who came here to enter lands and to 
locate homes brought their gold and silver in their saddle 
bags, and traveled in little companies for mutual protection. 
The population of Columbus increased so rapidly after the 
establishment of the land office for the sale of the Choctaw 
lands that before 1834 or 1835 there were two thousand or 
twenty-five hundred people in the place. Richard Barry 
left his first hotel site on Blair's corner, and built the Eagle 
Hotel where the Gilmer Hotel now stands. Other hotels 
soon went up: the Blewett House on College and Market 
streets, kept successively by Mrs. Musgrove, Col. Pope, and 
J. H. Curtis; also, the hotel that occupied Beard's comer 
was erected by James Jones in those flush times and later 
kept by Mordecai Howard. Every house was a boarding- 
house, and still there was lack of accommodations. 

The financial condition of the country required the es- 
tablishment of banks, which were soon erected — the first 
being the Planter's Bank of Natchez. This bank occupied 
a substantial building, known after its suspension and wind 
up as the City Hall, situated on the site of the present City 
Hall. William B. Winston was its cashier, and its business 
was so successfully conducted that it did not fail in the crash 
of 1837, but was closed by the suspension of the parent bank. 

The next bank established was the Commercial Bank. 
Dr. A. G. Wier was president and Capt. Charles H. Abert, 
cashier. They erected a brick building on St. John's Street, 
just in the rear of the present Masonic Temple. The Real 
Estate Bank, Madison Walthall, president, built for their 
use the house on the comer just opposite the court house, 
later known as Worrell's comer. The Tombigbee R. R. and 




->:X 






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■S «« 'S^ T 






j jj jj ^ r^ 






f • I r : ^ 



"r»-Tw.r «•„<.. 



f^ f^ 






FIRST STATE BANK. 



m 



153 

Banking Company occupied a building about the middle 
of West Market between Main and Court House Streets. 

These banks were followed by a great number of private 
banks known as shin-plaster banks, which redeemed their 
issue in paper currency. 

All these banks were swept away by the Panic of 1837, so 
that early in the forties there was not a bank in Columbus. 
During this time, our planters and merchants all did their 
business with Mobile and other foreign banks. Our farmers 
sent their cotton crops to commission merchants in Mobile, 
who with the proceeds thereof bought their supplies and sent 
by boat to them up the Tombigbee. 

The Columbus merchants sold goods on a year's credit, 
and were paid with checks on the Mobile commission merch- 
ants. The banks in Nashville, Tenn., Augusta, Ga., and 
Charleston, S. C. supplied a great deal of the money during 
these times. 

The financial condition was so inconvenient and involved 
so much time that the business men made it a political issue, 
which divided both the old Whig and the Democratic party. 
In 1852 Ex-Gov. James Whitfield as a Bank Democrat 
and Col T. C. Billups as a Bank Whig organized a party which 
defeated the regular Democratic nominees at the following 
election. The Bank members of the legislature repealed or 
modified the anti-bank legislation so that banks could be 
re-established. 

In 1852 the Columbus Insurance and Banking Company 
was organized with James Whitfield as president, and W. J. 
Anderson, cashier. Gov. Whitfield remained president until 
his death and was succeeded by Col. Abram S. Humphries. 
He was succeeded by Major John M. Billups, and he by Capt. 
T. B. Franklin. Anderson was followed, as cashier, by N. E. 
Goodwin, who after long and faithful service gave place to 
W. H. Lee, the present worthy and efficient cashier of the 
bank. That they have been successful all these years is 
abundantly attested by their ability to weather the reverses 
of war and being now housed in so magnificent a building. 

The next bank established was the private bank of Wil- 
liams, Johnston & Company, located first in the Gilmer 
Hotel building. This was subsequently chartered as the 

17 



First National Bank, and then as the First State Bank, having 
moved into its own building near the comer of Main and Mar- 
ket streets. On its present site and over old Blair's corner 
they will soon erect a spendid bank and office building. Capt. 
C. A. Johnston as president and Mr. R. T. Williams as cashier 
have for years ably and successfully conducted the finances 
of this strong bank institution. 

Next came the Merchants and Farmers' Bank with a 
beautiful building on Market Street. Joseph M. Street, 
President, and E. C. Chapman, Cashier. These capable 
officials and a strong board of directors have set this bank 
on a firm foundation, and assured for it a successful future. 

The Penny Savings Bank, operated by negro capitalists, 
seems to be prospering, and should not be omitted in this 
account of the banking institutions of Columbus. 

The prosperity of its three banks, the remodeling into 
a first-class modem hostelry of the Gilmer Hotel, the build- 
ing of Stone Hotel, and other hotels and boarding houses 
sufficient to entertain large gatherings in the town, the es- 
tablishment of a street car system, the remodeling of the 
Court House, the building of a new spacious Baptist church, 
and the paving of the walks of her beautiful streets are among 
the unmistakable signs that Columbus has established her 
place as the leading city of northeast Mississippi; affection- 
ately regarded by her citizens, and by many others conceded 
to be the Queen City of the State. 

DR. BASKERVILLE. 

Among the Columbians of the present time who have achieved 
honorable distinction is Dr. Charles Baskerville, who was bom at 
Deerbrook, but reared in Columbus, where he received his early edu- 
cation. After six years of study in the Universities of Mississippi, 
Virginia, Vanderbilt and North Carolina, receiving from the latter 
the degree of B. S., he pursued post-graduate work in the University 
of Berlin, under the eminent chemists of Germany. 

He was Assistant and Associate Professor of Chemistry in the 
University of North Carolina from 1892 till 1900, from which time he 
held the chair of Chemistry till in 1904 he was called to the head of the 
Department of Chemistry in the College of the City of New York. 

Dr. Baskerville has made the rare earths his special study and 
has published important researches on Zirconium, Thorium, Titan- 
icum and Praseodynium. He is the discoverer of the rare elements of 
Carolinium and Barzelium and has conducted valuable researches in 
other fields of chemistry. He is the author of the following text- 
books: "Aids to School Chemistry;" "Radium and the Radioactive 
Elements;" "General Inorganic Chemistry;" "The Chemical Ele- 
ments," and "The Rare Metals." Dr. Baskerville is fellow of several 
Societies for the Advancement of Science. — Editor. 



155 



SUPPLEMENT. 



There were two thousand two hundred and one (2,201) 
men regularly enlisted in the service of the Confederate 
States from Lowndes county; a portion of these may have 
been gathered from adjacent counties. A partial list is here 
given. — Editor. 

List of Companies, with the number of men composing the same, 
that were mustered into the service of the Confederate States from 
Lowndes county, Mississippi: 

Captain Men 

Company F, 35th Miss. Infantry Frank Gregory 104 

Company K, 14th Miss. Infantry W. E. Baldwin 120 

Company- 11th Miss. Infantry J. W. T. Hairston 82 

Company I, 43rd Miss. Infantry J. O. Banks 98 

Company D, 10th Miss. Infantry W. B. Wade 91 

Company A, 44th Miss. Infantry J. H. Sharp 112 

Company F, 10th Miss. Infantry Geo. H. Lipscomb 102 

Company H, 35th Miss. Infantry George Brown 100 

Company D, 24th Miss. Infantry M. M. Rowan 105 

Company B, 43rd Miss. Infantry J. M. Billups 75 

Company F, 43rd Miss. Infantry J. P. Hampton 130 

Company-, 12th Cavalry Geo. W. Cox 94 

Company C, 2nd Battalion Infantry. -Randle Blewett 105 

Company I, 6th Miss. Cavalry C. A. Johnston 100 

Company F, 8th Confederate Cav J. H. Field 96 

Company G, 8th Confederate Cav Beverly Matthews 100 

Company E, 8th Confederate Cav George Abert 85 

Company K, 35th Miss. Infantry R. H. Shotwell 100 

Companv H, 6th Miss. Cavalry Jno. H. Richards 103 

Company K, 6th Miss. Cavalry Thos. H. Lipscomb 100 

Company H, Muldrow's Regt. Cav Battle Fort 39 

Company C, 35th Miss. Infantry C. R. Jordan 106 

The above list was furnished by Mr. Thomas Harrison for the 
United Daughters of the Confederacy book of "Reminenscenses of 
Columbus— 1861-1865."— Editor. 



156 



COLUMBUS RIFLEMEN. 
Below we give a list of the Columbus Riflemen of 1860-65. 

OFFICERS. 

Captain W. E. Baldwin, 
Firsrt Lieutenant S. D. Harris, 
Second Lieutenant J. W. Benoit, 
Third Lieutenant W. O. Worrell, 
Orderly Sergeant Atwell Johnston, 
Second Sergeant R. Willeford, 
Third Sergeant James Worrell, 
Fourth Sergeant Ed Duncan, 
Fifth Sergeant Geo. W. Abert, 
Bugler Frank Cherrier. 



John A. Abert, 
John W. Anderson, 
A. S. Brownlee, 
G. H. Buckingham, 
D. L. Brown, 
Samuel Betts, 
James Bartee, 
L. F. Carrington, 
J. B. Collier, 
M. K. Cofer, 
W. H. Dukemanier, 
William Eastland, 
Sid Franklin, 
Henry Goodrich, 
John B. Galloway, 
Wm. H. Harris, 
Shaler Hillyer, 
T. C. Howze, 
H. C. Howard, 
James Irion, 
A. Kirk, 
A. E. Kersey, 
Rufus Kidd, 
J. S. Lanier, 
J. A. Larrabee, 
R. K. Lee, 
Ale.x Moore, 
Ed Mullen, 
Nat Mitchell, 
Robert Mason, 
M. McMath, 

{ohn McKellar, 
,. G. Ottley, Jr. 
A. S. Payne, 
Hick Reeves, 
D. Sappington, 
H. K. Schooler, 
W. J. Sholl, 
Robert D. Shropshire, 
William Street, 
Jasper Taylor, 
William Van Hook, 



PRIVATES. 



[■ 



John J. Archer, 
L. S. Brownlee, 
Wm. R. Barry, 
J. N. Barksdale, 
Geo. W. Betts, 
William Brooks, 
WilHam Butler, 
R. B. Cady, 
B. F. Cockrell, 
P. H. Delany, 
W. T. Enoch. 
John W. East, 
W. B. Fort, 
John Gilmer, 
J. S. Harrison, 
Ewing Hill, 
Pat Hamilton, 
S. H. Harris, 
W. W. Howard, 
E. Jenkins, 
. Kirk, 
Phil Krecker, 
William Lanier, 
E. B. Loud, 

B. S. Long, 
W. A. Moore, 
John Munger, 
James Munson, 

C. S. Morton, 
N. B. Medlock, 
John McCown, 
James Neilson, 
A. J. Owen, 

A. S. Robinson, 
Robert Ray, 
Joe Street, 
J. H. Stevens, 
Thos. Danders, 
S. M. Smith, 
H. C. Topp, 
A. H. Taylor, 
George Watson, 



157 

Thomas Watson, John Worrell, 

C. M. Williams, John Williams, 

Hick Williams, Anthony Whitfield 

P. J. Wray, Octavus Williams, 

Kelly Williams, R. Witherspoon, 

W. Lowndes Young. 

Mustered into the Confederate States service at Corinth, 
Miss., May 27th, 1861, and was known as Company K, Four- 
teenth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, and served from May, 
1861, to May, 1865. 

This roll is copied from the original roll of W. O. Worrell, 
Reuben Willeford, J. P. Krecker, the Orderly Sergeants of 
the company at the time these rolls were made, and are in 
the possession of Thomas Harrison. 

W. E. Baldwin Captain and Colonel of regiment, 1861 and 1862; 
Brigadier General 1863; wounded at Vicksburg, killed at Dog River 
Ala., February, 1864. 

S. D. Harris, First Lieutenant, transferred to Baldwin's Staff in 
1862; Captain. 

J. W. Benoit, Second Lieutenant and Captain; transferred to 
Baldwin's Staff in December, 1862. 

W. O. Worrell, Third Lieutenant and Captain from 1863 to 1865; 
wounded at Franklin, Tenn. 

C. A. Johnston, First Sergeant and Lieutenant in 1861 and 1862; 
Captain Sixth Mississippi Cavalry; escaped from Camp Douglas. 

R. Willeford, Second Sergeant. 
Jas. T. Worrell, Third Sergeant. 

Ed. K. Duncan, Fourth Sergeant, died at Camp Douglas. 
G. W. Abert, Fifth Sergeant; Colonel Fourteenth Mississippi, 
1862 and 1863. 

D. Sappington, First Corporal, died at Camp Chase, Ohio. 

E. M. Witherspoon, Second Corporal, wounded at Fort Donelson; 
transferred to Forty-third Mississippi; Lieutenant in same. 

W. H. Dukemanier, Third Corporal. 

J. K. Ottley, Jr. Fourth Corporal, transferred to a Virginia regi- 
ment, killed in Virginia. 

L. F. Carrington, Fifth Corporal, wounded at Fort Donelson. 

Anderson, J. W., died in Camp Douglas. 

Archer, John J., wounded at Pine Mountain, Ga. 

Arnold, James M., Lieutenant Sixth Mississippi Cavalry. 

Abert, John A., discharged, disability. 

Barksdale, J. N. 

Barry, W. R. 

Bartee, James R., left sick at BoUingreen, Ky. 

Betts, Sam L., wounded at Kenesaw Mountain, killed at Selma, 
Alabama. 

Brooks, W. W., wounded at Nashville, Tennessee. 

Brown, D. L., detailed Quartermaster Clerk. 

Brownlee, L. S. 

Buckingham, Geo. H., detailed Quartermaster clerk. 

Butler, J. H., wounded at Franklin, Tennessee. 

Butler, W. M., left sick at Haynesville, Tennessee, died. 

Brownlee, A. S. died at Bowling Green, Ky., September, 1861. 

Cady, R. B. 



158 

Cage, G. A. 

Carrington, W. D., escaped from Camp Douglas, killed at Harris- 
burg, Mississippi, Lieutenant Sixth Mississippi Cavalry. 

Cockrell, B. T. 

Cofer, M. K., left sick at Russellville, Ky. 

Collier, J. B., wounded at Nashville, Tennessee. 

Cook, W. H., detailed. 

Cherrier, F. A., Bugler. 

Delany, P. H., left sick at Bowlingreen, Kentucky. 

Dillahunty, John B., detailed in commissary. 

East, J. W., discharged. 

East, Robert 

Enoch, W. P., discharged. 

Eastland, W. H. 

Evans, R. W., detailed sharpshooter. 

Fort, W. B., Captain of Cavalry, Perrin's regiment. 

Franklin, Dr. S. W., Assistant Surgeon, 1863 to 1865. 

Fumess, Dr. John P., left with the sick at Russelleville, Kentucky. 

Galloway, J. B. 

Gilmer, John 

Goodrich, H. C. 

Harrison, Thomas, First Lieutenant, Baldwin's Staff, 1863; Cap- 
tain Hardee's Stafif 1864 and 1865; escaped from Camp Douglas. 

Hill, Irwin. 

Howell, W. W., left at Bowlingreen, Kentucky. 

Hamilton, Pat., Baldwin's Staff, 1863; escaped from Camp Doug- 
las. 

Harris, J. W., escaped from Camp Douglas. 

Howze, T. C. 

Howard, H. C, killed at Fort Donelson. 

Hillyer, Shaler, detailed in Quartermaster Department. 

Harris, S. H., left sick at Bowlingreen, Kentucky. 

Howard, James 

Harrison, J. S. 

Irion, James W., detailed in Quartermaster Department. 

Jenkins, James E. 

Kidd, Rufus. 

Kerey, A. E., wounded at Atlanta. 

Kirk, A. J., wounded at Fort Donelson. 

Kirk, L. H. 

Krecker, J. P., wounded at Franklin, Lieutenant 1864. 

Larrabee, J. A. wounded at Atlanta and Franklin, escaped from 
Camp Douglas; Lieutenant, 1864. 

Long, B. S., detailed engineers. 

Lea, R. K., discharged, deafness. 

Loud, E. B., escaped from Camp Douglas. 

Lanier, J. S., detailed on Gardner's staff. 

Lanier, W. R., escaped from Camp Douglas, transferred to Tenth 
Tennessee; Lieutenant. 

Malone, C. C, transferred to Tenth Tennessee; Lieutenant. 

Mullen, Ed, transferred to Twentieth Mississippi Battalion. 

Mason, Robert. 

Mitchell, N. L., dead. 

Medlock, N. B., died at Camp Douglas. 

Moore, W. A., escaped from Camp Douglas; Commissary Sergeant. 

Moore, Alex, escaped from Camp Douglas. 

Morton, C. S., escaped from Camp Douglas. 

McCown, John, wounded at Fort Donelson, killed at Decatur. 

McQune, H. A. 



159 

McKellar, John. 

McMath, J. M., wounded at Decatur, killed at Chester. 

Munger, John F., 

Neilson, John A., escaped from Camp Douglas. 

Neilson, J. C, escaped from Camp Douglas, wounded at FrankHn. 

Oden, L. G. 

Payne, A. S., Color bearer, Fourteenth Mississippi regiment, 
wounded at Nashville. 

Quarles, W. B. 

Robinson, A. S. 

Reagh, R. H. , wounded at Fort Donelson, died. 

Sappington, D., wounded at Fort Donelson, died at Camp Chase. 

Sholl, W. J., took oath of allegiance, released at Camp Douglas. 

Street, J. M. 

Sanders, T. J. 

Schoolar, H. K., wounded at Atlanta. 

Smith, S. M. 

Stevens, J. H., not captured at Donelson. 

Sanders, Thos. G. 

Stevens, J. A., wounded at Atlanta. 

Street, W. B. 

Taylor, A. H. 

Taylor, Jasper N., Chaplain Fourteenth Mississippi. 

Topp, H. C. 

Van Hook, W. L., killed at Franklin, Tennessee. 

Watson, G. K. 

Williams, O. P., died at Camp Douglas. 

Williams, Jno. S., killed at Fort Donelson. 

Whitfield, A. D., escaped from Camp Douglas, detailed to com- 
missary. 

Witherspoon, E. M., wounded at Fort Donelson. 

Williams, Kelly, Surgeon, Fourteenth Mississippi 1863, '64, '65. 

Williams, Chas. M., detailed Quartermaster Department. 

Worrell, John W. 

Wray, P. J., wounded at Fort Donelson, dead. 

Young, W. L., escaped from Camp Douglas, detailed scout. 

These men enlisted in 1861 and were present or accounted for 
at Fort Donelson; were at Camp Douglas, were exchanged and re- 
enlisted for three years or during the war. 

The following roll contains the names of men who joined the 
Company at various times from September, 1862 to 1864: 

Barnes, J. H., wounded at Resaca, Ga., died. 

Betts, C. V. 

Barksdale, W. F. 

Cobb, Geo. C, discharged, deafness. 

Cox, J. A. 

Crouch, A. L. 

Dunning, W. 

Halbert, Jno. S. 

Hudgins, W. H. 

Johnston, H. R., Hospital Steward. 

Kline, Samuel, discharged. 

Kelly, J. L. 

Kidd, A. W., wounded at Atlanta. 

Little, Basil, killed at Meridian. 

Lincoln, C. L. 

Mitchell, David. 



160 

McMane, G. W., killed at Bentonville, N. C. 

Murphy, R. J., Assistant Surgeon, Thirty- third Mississippi. 

Maer, W. E., killed at Kingston, N. C. 

McMath, W. H. 

Matthews, Barry. 

Owens, William. 

Owens, A. J. 

Powell, W. E., died at Camp Douglas, 1865. 

Richardson, S. R., wounded at Atlanta. 

Richardson, T. P. 

Reaves, H. 

Reid, F. P., wounded at Franklin, Tennessee., dead. 

Reynolds, U. 

Sappington, Voltaire. 

Sewell, W. W. 

Schoolar, L. J. 

Saltonstall, W. C. 

Sheppard, B. E. 

Taylor, G. B. 

Taylor, J. W. 

Vogel, Augustus. 

Vaughn, G. W. 

Williams, W. H. H., detailed to Medical Department. 

Williams, R. 

WiUetord. G. T. 

Watson, H. L. 

Worrell, C. H. 

Wren, W. S., killed at Atlanta. 

Willis, W. L. 

Winston, Walter. 




CHARLES BASKERVILLE, P.HD., l-.C.S. 
Professor of Chemistry of the College of the City of New York. 



160 



161 



OFFICERS AND MEN OF COMPANY I, 
43rd MISSISSIPPI REGIMENT 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS 

Banks, J. O. Captain. 
Leigh, Richard, First Lieutenant. 
Leigh, Bob, Second Lieutenant. 
Young, Thomas E., Third Lieutenant. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS 

Spiers, R. R., First Sergeant. 
Garvin, R. S., Second Lieutenant. 
Bunch, Thos., Third Lieutenant. 
Williams, B., Fourth Lieutenant. 
Christian, C. D., First Corporal 
Harris, J. R., Second Corporal. 
Gaston, J. E., Third Corporal. 
McCrary, W. R., Fourth Corporal. 
Worrell, C. O., Fifth Corporal. 



PRIVATES 



Angle, Thomas 
Angle, Did 
Anthony, J. W. 
Backham, Wm. 
Bailey, Wm. 
Barnes, Thos. 
Barkesdale, W. F. 
Bean, Wm. 

Beam, 

Brownlee, J. B. 
Brown, Sam 
Beard, Robert 
Beard, James 
Bradley, Neal 
Caldwell, Jas. 
Caldwell, Walter 
Camp, Fayette 
Cox, D. S. 
Caldwell, Robert 
Chandler, Robert 

Chandler, 

Cook, J. S. 

Dodson, 

EUis, J. N. E. 
Ellis, M. H. 
Ellis, James 
Ellis, Robert 
ElHs, W. L. 
Fuson, I. 
Field, David I. 
Gibson, Green 
Gammill, George 
Green, Wm. 
Gamer, Lid. 
Hull, W. S. 
Hull, James 
Hull. M. 



18 



Lawrence, Thos. 
Little, John 
McCrary, Jas. 
Mulkaka, Jas. 
Miller, L. 
McReynolds, Jas. 
McReynolds, Lany 
Mclntyre, Thos. 
Mullen, Emmett 
Norwood, B. F. 
Norwood, John 
O'Mally, Pat 
O'Riley, Wm. 
Oden, Lee 
Oden, Henry 
Pool, Wm. M. 
Peters, Dick 
Peters, Wilson 
Peters, Isham 
Page, Jack 
Portwood, J. K. 
Randall, Shular 
Randall, Flem 
Randall, Wm. 
Robertson, Wm. 

Robertson, 

Sharp, J. H. 
Sharp, R. C. 
Sharp, Franklin 
Sharp, Jack 
Sharp, Nim 
Scurlock, T. C. 
Scurlock, T. B. 
Scurlock, Jas. 
Stewart, Davy 
Stewart, J. H. 
Sturdivant, A. B. 



162 



Hogan, John 
Hogan, Wm. 
Halbert, E. F. 
Harris, W. R. 
Harris, M. M. 

Hudgins, 

Hudgins, 

Jackson, J. E. 
Jenkins, Martin 
Kidd, Eugene 
Koker, Green 
Koker, T. 
Leech, Daniel 
Leech, Langford 
Leech, Berry 
Leech, James 
Langford, Jas. 
Love, Charley 
Loftis, J. D. 



Snell, Scott 
Snell, Benton 
Stanley, W. 
Stanley, Ralph 
Swain, Joe 
Swain, Jack 
South, Levy 
Smith, Jonathan 
Smith, Andy 
Smith, C. C. 
Smith, Thos. 
Sprowell, Wm. 
Thrasher, Dick 
Thompson, Wm. 
Williams, Tom 
Williams, Lany 
Williams, Brown 
Walker, Sam 
Willingham, Thos. L 




163 



MUSTER ROLL, COMPANY H, PERRIN'S REGIMENT 
CAVALRY, FERGUSON'S BRIGADE 

OFFICERS 

Fort, Battle, Captain. 
Muldrow, Wm. C., First Lieutenant. 
Dukemanier, Wm. H., Second Lieutenant. 
Low, John W., Third Lieutenant. 
Campbell, Wm. A., First Sergeant. 
Stanton, J. B., Second Sergeant. 
Ervin, E. A., Third Sergeant. 
Kyle, A. D., Fourth Sergeant. 
Ellis, Daniel, Fifth Sergeant. 
Henderson, Wm. H. C, First Corporal. 
Ellis, Thomas S., Second Corporal. 
Risherson, L. H., Third Corporal. 
Patterson, Sandfort, Fourth Corporal. 



Askew, Joseph 

AUston, J. L 

AUston, James E 

Brannon, H. S. 

Brown, J. D. 

Brown, J. P. 

Barham, N. 

Buford, B. 

Bell, J. M. 

Burgess, James 

Clive, H. A. 

Cottrell, J. M. 

Cofin, John C. 

Cox, Wm. S. 

Craig, Robert 

EUis, F. D. 

Ellis, Robert 

Ellis, Wm. H. 

Ervin, James E. 

Fife, Wm. J. 

Fields, C. D. 

Fields, D. F. 

Fields, R. S. 

Gaston, J. W. 

Griffin, Noah 

Gunn, John 

Hartsfield, B. F. 

Hastings, W. W. 

Harris, W. J. 

Hill, Green 

Horton, Bery 

Howard, J. M. 
Humphries, J. H. 
Hilliard, W. E. 
Joiner, J. E. 
Jordan, Wm. 
Kirkby, C. 
Kennegay, Wyatt 
Laughton, J. C. 
Lyon, T. C. 



PRIVATES 



May, John 
McAdison, S. L. 
Martin, Robert G. 
McGowan, G. A. 
Turner, Gid P. 
Walker, J. D. 
West, T. P. 
West, A. B. 



McLaughlin, G. R. 
McReynolds, G. C. 
McVay, W. C. 
Miller, A. W. 
Montgomery, A. G. 
Montgomery, D. F. 
Murphy, James 
Norwood, R. G. 
Parkham, J. L. 
Parker, J. G. 
Parker, J. W. 
Phillips, W. T. 
Perkins, U. D. 
Perkins, J. C. 
Russell, J. M. 
Redus, Samuel 
Reeves, John 
Reeves, H. P. 
Reives, J. T. 
Reives, Samuel E. 
Ryland, J. H. 
Robey, W. A. 
Saunders, Thomas 
Sandifer, J. M. 
Shepherd, Peter 
Smith, John 
Stevenson, Sol. 
Stiles, J. E. 
Swinson, H. 
Stanton, T. P. 
Perry, I. J. 
Trewett, E. P. 
Williams, A. R. 
Williams, X. M. 
Wooten, John 
Wingo, W. H. 
Whittock, C. B. 
Wood, L. H. 
Woodfin, J. E. 
Yeates, E. D. 



164 



OFFICERS AND MEN COMPANY B, 43rd REGIMENT 
MISSISSIPPI VOLUNTEERS, 1862 

Billups, J. M., Captain. 
Irion, McKinney, Lieutenant. 
Whitfield, H. B., Lieutenant. 
Hargrove, W. H., Lieutenant. 
Miller, George, First Sergeant. 
Montgomery, C. R., Second Sergeant. 
Teasdale, R. L., Third Sergeant. 
Fryerson, A. A., Fourth Sergeant. 
Lyon, T. C, Fifth Sergeant. 
Yeates, T. W., First Corporal. 
Beckwith, I. N., Second Corporal. 
Killian, G. R., Third Corporal. 
Armstrong, J. W., Fourth Corporal. 



PRIVATES 



Acker, Balus 
Acker, T. B. 
Beckwith, J. M. 
Barrow, G. W. 
Bell, Hury A. 
Banks, R. W. 
Camp, L. C. 
Cooper, W. F. 
Cooper, Jas. A. 
Cox, Alexander 
Carson, Wm. 
Carson, Jas. A. 
Clark, J. W. 
Davis, Jas. C. 
Davis, Thos. L. 
Davis, J. F. 
Davis, H. D. 
Davis, J. A. 
Dean, John 
Dancy, Ed 
Easley, A. G. 
Ellis, Jonathan 
Eubanks, G. W. 
Edmondson, J. W. 
Edmondson, Wm. 
Evans, Roderick 
Finklea, G. W. 
Furgerson, W. B. 
Gannon, Thomas 
Garvin, J. O. 
Gillespie, George 
Harmon, J. A. 
Hicks, Ervin 
Hill, Ervin 
Howard, H. H. 
Howard, J. W. 
Howarth, David 
Hughson, John 
Johnson, Means 

Jones, 

Kennon, W. H. 



Kennon, Fant 
Kidd, A. W. 
Kniffin, Ward 
Loftis, J. L. 
Leech, Mat 
Leech, John 
Lanier, Emmett 
Leigh, F. M. 
Love, Rufus 
McGee, F. M. 
McMorton, Lee 
McCown, John 
McCarty, J. M. 
McCarty, M. V. 
McCarty, Thomas 
McCarty, M. M. 
McClary, D. R. 
McClary, S. F. 
McDowell, A. J. 
McDowell, Jeff 
Minga, A. A. 
Murray, R. G. 
Merchant, Thos. 
Merritt, H. S. 
Nickles, M. H. 
Nickles, R. F. 
Peebles, John 
Perkins, W. H. 
Randall, John 
Randall, F. D. 
Reed, H. H. 
Reed, J. A. 
Reeves, F. M. 
Reeves, W. B. 
Reeves, J. D. 
Reeves, C. C. 
Ricket, Jacob 
Ramsey, C. A. 
Short, J. L. 
Shaeffer, C. A. 
Sherman, W. H. 



165 



Sherim, Hardmore 
Shattuck, Geo. W. 
Smith, D. L. 
Smith, R. S. 
Smith, W. P. 
Smith, W. M. 
Smith, Jas. M. 
Smith, W. S. 
Smith, Moses B. 
Snider, D. N. 
Sivley, J. S. 
Sykes, W. S. 
Snell, J. T. 
Tharp, J. T. 
Tharp, G. N. 



Walker, W. J. H. 



Taylor, Thos. 
Thomas, W. J. C. 
Thomas, E. H. 
Tunnell, T. L. 
West, Matt 
West, Lem 
West, Berry 
White, L. N. 
White, Jas. M. 
Wigby, Joe 
Williams, J. C. 
Williams, Daniel 
Walestonholme, Thos. 
Wither spoon, E. M. 
Worrell, Wm. 

/ 




166 



INDUSTRIES— 1906 

Jacob's Foundry and Machine Shops. 

Standard Stove Works. 

New South Plow Company, 

Columbus Underwear Company, 

Hagadon and Louk's Hardwood Works, 

Columbus Cordage Company, 

Mississippi Cotton Oil Mill, 

Columbus Hydraulic Stone Company, 

Columbus Brick Company, 

Peoples' Ice Company, 

Kaye's Ice Company, 

McQuown's Carriage Factory, 

Columbus Comfort Company, 

Arkay Stave and Heading Company, 

Southern Phosphate Company, 

Light and Power Company, 

Refuge Cotton Oil Company, 

Cheatham's Planing Mill, 

Gulf Compress Company, 

Kelly, Pope & Rather, Cement Walks. 

Columbus Marble Works, 

Tombigbee Cotton Mills, 

Southern Machine Shops, 

Columbus Hosiery Mill, 

Bell Lumber Company, 

Columbus Water Works, 

Columbus Gas Works. 

Columbus Chair Factory, 

Columbus Hosiery Mill, 

Columbus Manufacturing Company, 

Machine and Foundry Company, 

Street Railway System. 

EDUCATIONAL 

Mississippi Industrial Institute and College, 
Franklin Academy, 
Barrow Memorial Academy, 
Union Academy (Colored). 



167 



First Methodist, 

First Baptist, 

Presbyterian, 

Episcopal, 

Cumberland Presbyterian, 

Christian, 

Catholic, 

Jewish Temple, 



CHURCHES. 

Second Methodist, 
Second Baptist, 
Faith Chapel, 

Methodist Episcopal (col'd), 
Colored Methodist, 
African Zion Church (col'd) 
Baptist, (col'd) 
Shiloh Baptist (col'd.) 




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